


Love and War

by Kihonne



Series: Heroes in the Making: An Elite Force [10]
Category: Lab Rats: Elite Force (TV), Mighty Med
Genre: F/F, F/M, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Revenge, Romance, Superheroes, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2020-01-05 22:28:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18375344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kihonne/pseuds/Kihonne
Summary: Months after Mighty Med was destroyed, former sidekick, Geminus, is trying to gather the rest of the heroes to form a new team. But as she brings together the surviving superheroes, a villain they thought to be dead rises from the ashes. Can they put aside their differences to stop him? Or will their mistrust lead to the end of the New League of Heroes before it even really begins?





	1. Midnight Visitors

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set between The Power of Seven: The New Mission chapter 10 (A Friend in Need) and The Power of Seven: The New Mission chapter 17 (Against the Odds).
> 
> I do not own mighty med or the elite force, or anything from the original TV shows. I only own this story, Alivia, Melody, Rani, any other OCs present, and anything else you don't recognize.

** Liam's POV **

I coughed in pain, rolling onto my back. I blinked up at the sky in confusion, part of me wondering where the flames and smoke had come from, the other part of me wondering when I'd gotten outside. Hadn't I been in Mighty Med?

I sat up slowly, wincing at the painful tug on my ribs. Something was broken in there – I could feel it. I frowned, trying to remember what had happened. One moment I'd been heading to the punch table, intending grabbing some drinks for me, Spark, and Geminus, and then there'd been some sort of bright light and the sound of a deafening explosion.

Before I could even try to figure out what had happened from there, something big, black, and ominous flew out of the smoke. It was pitch black, almost invisible in the night sky, and though it looked very similar to a cloud, it moved around the sky like it had a purpose, like something was controlling it. Unsure of what was going on and not wanting to be caught unaware, I tried to get to my feet, but the moment I tried to put weight on my left ankle, a stabbing pain shot through it, bringing me back down to my knees.

That was when the cloud seemed to target me. It stopped midair, then darted towards me. I raised my hands to defend myself, but before I could do anything, a large piece of cement flew through the air and through the cloud, dispersing it. A tall, red-clad figure made her way through the smoke until she stood a few feet away from me. Her eyes were wide, panicked, and her shoulder length brown hair was covered in soot, her bangs stained crimson from a large cut across her forehead. "Spotlight!" She exclaimed, recognizing me.

"Scarlet Ace." I greeted. She offered me a hand and helped me up, letting me use her as a type of crutch. "What happened?"

"I don't know. They came out of nowhere." She explained in a rush as we began to move through the rubble. Looking around, I realized that we were standing in the ruins of Mighty Med, the hospital utterly obliterated. "They killed Horace."

I grimaced at the news of the man's death. He'd done a hell of a service to the superhero community for centuries before I'd been born. He would be missed. "We have to-" I broke off, coughing, "Geminus, Spark, any of the survivors."

"I haven't seen anyone. No one alive, anyway. There are so many bodies." She murmured the last bit, horrified. She shook herself suddenly, as if to get rid of the images in her head. "We have to get out of here."

"No, we have to-" I broke off again, not to cough, but because the nineteen-year-old hero suddenly gasped and pulled me back, just in time to avoid another one of those black clouds. I raised my hands, shooting the cloud with a beam of pure light. But I knew it wouldn't last long. "No, you're right. We have to go." I agreed. I gave the area around us one more look, hoping that one of my old friends would come out of the flames next, unharmed, but I knew it was pointless. With this much destruction, how could any of them have survived?

We managed to escape the hospital after a couple of more encounters with that cloud, and out of the area. We stole a car – turns out, the Scarlet Ace was pretty good when it came to hotwiring stuff – and drove for hours, only stopping when we reached the next state.

And as we sat in the waiting room of an ER, having told the nurse that we'd been in a car accident, I wondered – what the hell were we going to do now?

** 9 Months Later **

"How is this not interesting to you?" Lily questioned, sitting on the counter as I refilled the coffee grinder. She waved a newspaper in my face. "Girl in Portland freezes pond with her care hands." She read the headline. "Totally a superhero."

"Totally a fake." I rolled my eyes. Ever since we'd given up our superhero personas, Lily had been desperate to get back in the game, whether it was helping some lady get her cat out of a tree, or tracking down other superheroes. "The last three headlines you showed me were fakes."

"It doesn't mean this one is." She insisted, giving me an annoyed look. I rolled my eyes as a customer walked into the store.

"It does, actually." I replied before taking the lady's offer and preparing her coffee. It was 12:02 AM in the morning on a Saturday, and while most people – most sane people at least – were asleep in bed, I was busy working the midnight shift at my local Starbucks with my somewhat crazy roommate, Lily. "Here you are, have a nice day." I told the woman in front of me, handing her a latte and croissant.

"Who drinks coffee at 12 in the morning?" Lily complained, watching the lady walk out. She brushed her long bangs away from her face, the straight, light brown locks tucking behind her ears.

"Old people, midnight drivers…" I shrugged. "I used to grab a coffee at 24-hour coffee shops like this if I was out late working."

"You went to Starbucks at midnight?" She laughed, leading me into the back. I shook my head, following her into the break room.

"No way. Tim Horton's." I replied. She rolled her eyes, the caramel colored orbs alit with amusement, as she pulled a water bottle out from her bag.

"Canadian!" She accused.

"Dude," I just shook my head at her, "you can't make fun of me for being Canadian…while we're in Ontario!"

She laughed, then tossed me a water bottle. I caught it with ease, finding myself smiling. I missed those old days, where I'd grab a coffee on my way to Mighty Max to drop off a bad guy. It had started out as the occasional treat, then had become a habit with every villain captured. It was one of the reasons I'd applied to work here – it reminded me of back when my days were a little more exciting, back when my uniform was leather and gloves, not a visor and green apron. But unfortunately, those days were far behind me.

"So, you want to hit up a McDonald's before we head home?" Lily asked me, but before I could answer, we heard the bell above the door ring, announcing that someone had entered. Two someones, if I had to guess by the number of footsteps I heard. "Oh, c'mon. It's two in the morning!"

"I got this one." I told her. I stepped out of the break room, and headed for the counter. "What can I get you…" The words died in my throat when I saw the two teenagers standing behind the bar.

The guy was vaguely familiar – tall, with short blonde hair and blue eyes – but it was the girl that really caught my attention. Fiery red hair, fair pale skin, and sharp eyes that could look right into your soul. She smirked at the slack look on my face. "Well, for starters, we'll have a couple of white chocolate mochas." She replied in a crisp, Irish accent. I stared at her, recognizing the voice instantly. "And then maybe we should talk."

"Gem?" I whispered, too stunned to say anything else. Her eyes twinkled. "Geminus?"

"It's good to see you again, Spotlight." She smiled back at me. "It's been a long time."

** Xxx **

"Damn, you've been busy." I commented once Geminus finished her story. "I mean, how many villains is that in nine months?"

She and her friend from Philadelphia, Barry, exchanged looks.

"We've had some help." Barry admitted. Lily caught onto that, a suspicious look crossing her face.

"What kind of help?" She questioned sharply. Geminus smiled.

"Let's just say, we're not the only ones who survived Mighty Med's destruction." She replied. Lily and I stopped, shocked. For the longest time, we had thought we were the only ones (well, aside from Skylar Storm, Kaz Broadman, and the Short twins, who'd sent us a message a few months ago), and now, here was Geminus, a fellow hero and friend, telling us that we weren't alone after all.

"There are others?" Lily whispered breathlessly, excited. She was looking at Geminus in amazement. The red-head gave her a nod. "Oh my…"

"That's why we're here, actually." Barry added. Geminus nodded.

"The League of Heroes is gone. Every one of its members were killed, and the villains are starting to notice that there are less heroes on the street." She declared. "Someone's gotta take care of them, might as well be us."

"I'm sorry, what is this?" I inquired.

"We're recruiting you. This world needs someone to protect it. I say we form a new League of Heroes." Barry explained.

"The New League of Heroes." Geminus insisted. She looked at us imploringly. "We're looking for any hero willing to get back in the game."

"I'm in." Lily spoke without hesitation. I, however, had my doubt.

"Now, Gem, you know I'm always up for a fun time, but…what can the four of us do against a world of villains?" I questioned. There'd been rumors lately, of villains getting bolder. Stories of old villains, criminals we'd thought were dead, reappearing across the globe. "We're outnumbered."

"I'm never outnumbered." Geminus reminded me, rolling her eyes. Barry shook his head at her.

"That's why we're recruiting. The more members we get, the better chance we have. We could use your help." He told us.

"I…I don't know." I admitted. Geminus looked at me, annoyed. "Don't give me that look, Red. Our entire community's been wiped out. Going into this without thinking about it would stupid and you know it."

"I suppose it's up to you." She agreed reluctantly. "But, Liam, we need you."

"You know, that whole you calling me by my first name to convince me to help really isn't fair." I commented. "After all, I don't know-"

"Alivia." She cut me off. "My name is Alivia Kimberly McLean, and I am asking you for your help."

"I need time to think." I told her. She nodded and stood up.

"Don't take too long." She told us. She nodded at Lily. "Welcome aboard, Scarlet."

Alivia walked out. Barry looked after her, sighed, then turned back to us. "What's with her?"

"She's…um, going through stuff." He admitted. He grabbed a pen out of his pocket, then scribbled something down on a napkin. He handed it to us. "This is where we're staying. But we're leaving at 6 AM to go look for other recruits, so make up your mind quick, alright?"

** Xxx **

The moment Barry and Alivia were both gone, Lily turned on me. "What is wrong with you?" She demanded. "How could you say no?"

"Well, not wanting to die is a pretty good motivator." I pointed out. I looked at her. "I know you're eager to go do something, but be smart about this. They're plan to go against the world is almost suicidal. There's not enough of them."

"There are more, though." She reminded me, a smile on her face. "Who knows how many are out there? Together, we can't lose."

"Really? Because there were at least a hundred superheroes at Mighty Med that day. Almost every hero in the universe, and we lost. Badly." I reminded her as I began to clear up the hot chocolate cups Alivia and Barry had left behind. "And I, for one, don't want to lose again."

"Regardless of the result, we have to try." She insisted.

"To do what?" I retorted incredulously. "Look, I care about Geminus and Barry as much as the next guy, but they are going to get themselves killed, and I'm not going down with the ship."

"Well, I am." Lily declared. I sighed.

"C'mon, seriously?" I looked at her. "Hey, if you wanna do the vigilante thing, I'm down, but this is crazy."

"But it's right." She insisted. She sighed. "Look, maybe we can't stop every villain out there, but even if we only manage to get one bad guy off the streets, that's still one more bad guy behind bars. And that's what counts."

"You are so sentimental." I muttered, shaking my head.

"But convincing." She added with a smirk. I sighed.

"Things get too hairy, we bolt. Both of us." I bargained. She nodded.

"Fair enough." She agreed. I sighed. "Oh, c'mon. It'll be fun."

"Sure, loads." I commented sarcastically.

** Xxx **

"Wow, you actually showed." Barry looked impressed as he lead us up to the motel room they'd rented.

"It took some convincing." Lily admitted, sending me a smirk. I sighed.

"Girls like superheroes. Girls are into superheroes." I muttered to myself, trying to give myself some positive motivation.

"Well, look who it is." Barry announced, pushing open the motel room door. Inside, Alivia was speaking to a slim, African-American girl with long, curly hair. Sitting on one of the beds was a familiar face – the short, chubby nephew of the one of the greatest doctors in Mighty Med history.

"Good." Alivia smiled, nodding at us. She gestured to the others. "Spotlight, Scarlet Ace, meet Crossbow. And you both know Alan."

"You're playing hero now?" I questioned, looking at him.

"Obviously." He retorted. I gave Lily a look, wondering how in the hell I let her talk me into this.

"Well, this should go well." I commented. Crossbow smiled at us.

"Welcome to the New League Heroes." She greeted us. "Ready for your first mission?"


	2. Seattle

** Lily's POV **

"…and then we found Alan in Lancaster." Alivia continued, giving me a full rundown on how she'd begun forming this team of hers. I listened idly, only half paying attention. My real focus was on the cityscape in front of us as we drove into the city. I'd never been to Seattle before – it was beautiful, though I figured I might be the only one who noticed. In the back seat, Liam and Alan were arguing, something about which one of them was the more powerful one, while Angela was giving Barry tips on his shooting. He was a newer hero, I had discovered, having barely had the name Arciere for more than a couple of months. "Lily?"

"Huh?" I looked back at Alivia, who gave me a knowing smirk. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"You're distracted." She observed, unoffended.

"It's been a long week." I replied with a shrug. It wasn't a lie – this was the 5th day of our drive to the city, and being stuck in a car with 3 guys for hours on end, well that wasn't my idea of fun. "I sure hope this hero is worth it."

"They all are." Alivia commented sharply, glancing at me briefly before turning her eyes back to the road. I rolled my eyes.

"That's not what I meant." I assured her. "I mean, how do we know they'll agree to join up? What if they're like Liam, and they're quitting being a hero?"

"I can hear you." Liam spoke up. I smirked, not turning around to look at him.

"You were meant to. Loosen up, Spotlight." I told him before looking back at Alivia. "Seriously though, for all we know she could be working with those guys who destroyed Mighty Med – what were their names again?"

"Roman and Riker, and I doubt it. Those two are situated in Centium City. I can't think of a reason they'd come out here." The Irish hero replied. She tucked her long bangs behind her ear. "And besides, I'm sure Dani and the others checked to make sure these guys were clean before giving me the list."

"Please, why should we trust those Normos?" Alan sneered. Alivia looked at him through the rearview mirror.

"Well, A, because they've saved more superheroes lives than you ever have, and B, you do know that they have powers now, right? I mean, you were there." She pointed out.

"They're still pathetic." Alan grumbled. I turned in my seat to look at him.

"Are you always this grumpy?" I questioned.

"Yes." Everyone but him answered.

** Xxx **

"Alright, so according to Dani, we're looking for a cryokinetic girl who lives somewhere in this city." Alivia announced once we parked the Jeep near the rendezvous point – apparently, the car was a graduation gift for Barry. Liam and I looked at her sharply.

"This is how you do things? You just search the city, with no real idea of what you're doing?" I questioned. Angela nodded.

"It's not like we have another choice." She pointed out. "It took us six days to find you guys."

"This is ridiculous." Liam muttered.

"Look, I've narrowed her usual stomping grounds to these blocks." Alivia showed us a map on her phone, circling a small portion of the city with her finger. Well, small on the map. In reality, it was probably 20 blocks or so. "It's simple. We split up, stick to this area, and keep an eye out. If the intel is correct, she'll be doing rounds, so one of us will eventually run into her."

"Eventually being the key word." Liam commented.

"No one said this would be easy, man." Barry commented. He gestured at the map. "Look, Crossbow and I will take this part, you and Alan take this one, and Geminus and Scarlet Ace take this one."

"Fine." Liam sighed.

"Have fun." I sang teasingly as he and Alan trudged off towards their section of the city, neither of them looking particularly pleased with the arrangement. Though I'd never really known Alan before – I usually managed to avoid getting hurt in battles, so I'd only been to Mighty Med a few times – I knew by reputation he wasn't the easiest to get along with.

"Try and keep up." Angela told Barry, a smirk on her face. She nodded at us, then headed off towards her end of the city. Barry jogged after her. I smiled.

"They seem close." I commented as Alivia and I walked through the street, heading towards our section. The sun was quickly setting on the horizon – it would be dark within the hour. Alivia glanced at me, then caught onto what I meant, and chuckled.

"Not that kind of close. I don't know about Crossbow, but Arciere's got a thing for a girl in his hometown." She told me. "Not that he'd admit it, of course. Why? You think he's cute or something, or has Spotlight already claimed you as his own?"

I laughed. "Neither. They're not exactly my type." I shrugged. "So, how many heroes do we plan on getting like this? I mean, there's got to be a more efficient way to do this."

"If you've got an idea, I'd like to hear it. Right now, this girl's the last one – the list my friends gave me was pretty inconclusive, but there are rumors about an electrokinetic in Australia." Alivia explained.

"Surge?" I guessed. We'd known each other well when we both started out, but we'd grown apart over the years. Still, I hadn't seen his real name – Ricky Barbara – among the dead.

"It's possible." She agreed. She sighed. "Now, enough chitchat. We've got work to do."

** Xxx **

The time on my phone read 1:26 AM, and despite Alivia's optimism, we still hadn't had any sign of any other superpowered beings.

"Look, maybe we should call it a night." I suggested. She sighed irritably, clearly not liking my idea. "Look, I'm all for making our team bigger, but this is looking for a needle in a haystack. We should come up with a better plan."

"Very well." Alivia raised her hand to her ear and activated the communication device we all had. "Hey, guys, you find anything?"

To our surprise, the only response we got was static. "Arciere? Spotlight? Crossbow?" Alivia furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Anyone there?" I demanded, turning on my comm set. I frowned. It had been an hour since we last checked in; anything could have happened between then and now. "Hello?"

"Hey, you're a psychic, right?" Alivia looked at me. I sighed.

"I'm a telekinetic with a touch of clairvoyance." I corrected. "I could track them, I suppose, but I'd need something of theirs to use." I gestured at the device in my ear. "Don't these have GPS?"

"Probably, but I have no idea how to use it." She replied. I looked at her. "I failed computer science in high school, okay?"

"Let's just head to one of their last known locations, alright?" I suggested. She shrugged. "Geminus, chill. They're probably getting bad reception. I mean, how much trouble could they have gotten into already?"

** Barry's POV **

"Seriously?" I demanded, leaping backwards as a ball of blue fire shot past my head. Angela didn't respond, instead shooting another arrow at the villain, only for it to be burned away as the fire surrounding the monster grew larger. I stood back to back with her, facing the second of the two villains that had ambushed us."I mean, seriously? Demons?"

Two human-like creatures, one with deep blue colored skin and the other with pale, white skin, glared at us. Angela had recognized them instantly – she'd called him Blue Demon and White Demon– and the villains had just grinned. Both of them were pyrokinetic, like the superhero Solar Flare, but both were going for blood. I barely managed to pull an arrow out of the quiver that hung from my side when another fire ball was shot, this one white and hotter still, blasted at my hand. I pulled the limb away, shaking it to try and kill the flames that burst from it. Thank God I was wearing gloves.

"Drop!" Angela shouted, mere seconds before another fireball flew over my head.

"Okay, that's it." I muttered. "Cover me!"

I bolted to the side, ducking and rolling to the side to avoid another blast of fire. "Hey!" Angela shouted, shooting a plasma arrow at White Demon's head, before spinning around to shoot another two at Blue Demon. It was incredible, if I were to be honest, the way she could hold off two villains on her own, without much of a warning. She was clearly skilled at this, one of the reasons I asked her to help me with my training.

While the two Demons were occupied, I quickly scaled a fire escape to get a better vantage point. I pulled an arrow from my quiver, fiddled with the mechanical end of it, then took aim at the villains. I frowned in concentration, wanting to make sure that Angela was out of harm's way. Then, once I was sure of my shot, I released the arrow.

I watched as it soared through the air, towards White Demon. He spun around and raised one hand, clearly planning on disintegrating it with his fire, but before he could, it exploded on its own. The fragments burst away from each other, revealing a strong, thin wire net that crashed into his legs and tied themselves around the limbs. Angela took advantage of his shock and spun around, slamming her foot into his stomach. He hit the ground, writhing in pain.

Angela turned on her heel, clearly intending on taking out Blue Demon now that the odds were a little more in our favor, but before she could, he was blasted from the shadows. I didn't have the best view of it, but from here it looked like a white mist had hit him, but this mist was powerful enough to knock him to the ground.

Confused, and concerned that another villain had entered the scene, I leapt over the railing, landing hard on the ground below. I raced over to Angela, who was staring at Blue Demon. That 'mist' I'd seen had frozen him over, the villain lying on the ground, unmoving. "You killed him! What kind of hero kills?" White Demon demanded.

A girl, no older than sixteen years old, stepped out of the shadows. She was pale skinned, with long, platinum blonde hair, and very pale blue eyes. She wore a light blue, sleeveless shirt and pants, along with boots and gloves, only a couple of shades darker. She gave White Demon an icy look. "He's fine. Now stop whining or you're next." She growled,

He shut his mouth, forming a tight line across his face. The girl looked at us, a curious frown on her face. "Who the hell are you?"

"We could ask you the same question." Angela retorted, just as the sound of footsteps caught our attention. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Alivia, Lily, Alan, and Liam running towards us.

"I take it you guys got ambushed by one of the Demons too?" Liam questioned.

"Two." Angela replied, jerking her head at the two downed villains. "You?"

"We dealt with Crimson Demon. They had Matt Demon." Liam explained.

"Who is a lot tougher than you'd expect." Lily added, wiping away a little blood than dripped from a cut on her lip. She looked at the cryokinetic who'd helped us. "Who's this?"

"Melody Robins, AKA Frostbite." Alivia smiled, answering before the girl could. 'Frostbite' looked at her sharply, suspicious, though I would be too if some random stranger just identified me by both my civilian name and my hero alias. "We've been looking for you."

** Xxx **

"Seriously? You're reforming the League?" Melody questioned, almost bemused. It had been almost twenty minutes since Alivia had left to meet up with her contact from UPSEI – a prison specially made for beings like the Demon Brothers – and we were explaining to Frostbite our mission. "All by yourselves?"

"You think it's a bad idea?" I challenged. She looked at me.

"Well, between all of us, there's only seven of us. Not to mention, you're not that much older than me." She pointed out. Well, I suppose she had a point – Liam was the oldest, and he was only 20. "And I think I've been doing just fine on my own."

"And who helped you take out the Demon Brothers?" Alan challenged.

"You think they're the only villains I'm tracking?" Melody retorted.

"Yeah?" Alivia walked up then. She leaned against the wall of the building. "Like who?"

Melody hesitated. "Dr. Wrath." She eventually admitted. The others exchanged looks, confused, but I wasn't sure why.

"Dr. Wrath is dead. Has been for a couple of years now." Alivia commented. Melody shook her head.

"Not anymore." She replied, certain. "I'm sure you heard of how a few of his assistants tried to revive him last year."

"We were there. We stopped them." Liam added. She nodded.

"So, I hear. But one of them finally managed it." She insisted. "A few months ago, I caught wind of him on the streets, causing his usual mayhem. Except now, he's supposedly working with a couple of partners. I don't know who, but they're big and they're bad."

"I haven't heard any of this." Lily commented, frowning. She looked at Alivia. "You?"

"Nothing. Where'd you get your information?" Alivia questioned.

"I have a source." Melody replied coolly.

"You care to be more specific?" I questioned.

"It's an anonymous source." She clarified. "You don't need to know."

"Look, we can help each other." Alivia offered. "If you're taking on people as dangerous as Dr. Wrath, then you're going to need all the backup you can get, and we could use another member. What do you say?"

Melody thought about it. "Alright. I'm in."

"Welcome aboard." Angela nodded at her.

"So, Dr. Wrath." Liam looked at us. "Obviously, we have to take him out. Where do we start?"

"My source." Melody decided. "A former pupil of Dr. Wrath's whom he betrayed. We're supposed to meet at Julio's Pizzeria on third at noon."

"Alone?" Alan questioned. "Yeah, that's smart. It's definitely not a trap."

"I didn't ask for your input." Melody commented. She looked at the rest of us. "But I didn't specify that I'd be alone."

"Some of us will come with you." I offered. Alivia nodded in agreement, but Melody looked pretty hesitant.

"I don't think that's a good idea." She said. She sighed before explaining. "The only reason she agreed to talk to me is because I'm new at being a hero. I only took on the Frostbite persona after my aunt was killed, so I've never given her any reason to dislike me. You on the other hand…"

"Oh, come on. How much could she hate us already?" Lily questioned.

"Well, if she's met Alan…" Angela joked, earning a glare from the boy.

"Lily's got a point." Alivia agreed. Melody hesitated again. "Who is this girl?"

** Alivia's POV **

"For the record, I hate this." Liam muttered, even as he followed me and Melody into the café. I ignored, having already anticipated his opinion on the matter. Instead, I focused on the café itself. Despite Melody's reassurances that this was the real deal, I was highly suspicious of it being a trap. The location itself didn't help; the café was dark and fairly empty, making this the perfect place for an ambush.

"There she is." Melody told us, leading us to a booth at the back. A tall, eighteen-year-old girl was sitting there, stirring a cup of coffee. Her dark, shoulder length hair fell in front of her face, hiding her dark colored eyes from view. Judging by her clothes – a midnight blue hoodie and denim jeans – she was trying to keep a low profile. She looked up as we approached, eyes widening slightly when she saw Liam and I.

"Rani." I greeted coolly. "It's been a long time."


	3. Deal with a Devil

** Liam's POV **

"Rani." Alivia smirked at the startled villain. "It's been a long time."

The dark haired girl stared at her for a moment, then jerked to her feet, clearly trying to make a quick escape, but I stepped into her path, blocking her. "Not so fast, Shadow Girl."

"We just want to talk, Nyx." Melody reassured her. "That was the plan, right?"

"They weren't part of the plan." Rani retorted coldly, glaring at us. "I don't trust them."

"Sit down." I told her, pushing her down by the shoulder, though not too roughly. "We're not here to fight."

"We wanted a chat. That's all." Alivia agreed, taking a seat across from her. Melody sat down next to Alivia, and I took the seat between Rani and the exit, keeping her between us. Alivia might believe that we could convince Rani to work with us, but I knew better – once a villain, always a villain. And besides, from my past experience with the shadow manipulator, she likely had had a hand in Dr. Wrath's resurrection. "You were willing to talk to Melody. Why not us?"

"Maybe it's Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes glaring down at me like I'm inferior, or maybe it's the fact that you've locked me up before, but I don't like you." Rani drawled, her whole body tense. Melody looked at her imploringly.

"Hey," She caught the other girl's attention. "We had a deal, remember? You help me, I help you. They can help me help you. In the end, you'll still get what you want."

"Which is?" I questioned. Melody hadn't included that part. Rani sent me a look, distrustful and suspicious.

"They won't go for it." She insisted, looking at Melody.

"You don't know that. We're fairly reasonable." Alivia insisted. Rani scoffed. "Look, if we have a disagreement, you can away."

The dark haired girl considered it. "And I'll never have to see your ugly mugs again?" She eventually questioned, hesitantly.

"Ugly?" I repeated. What did she know? I looked amazing.

"Sure, or maybe we can help you with your problem." Alivia added. Rani looked at her, narrowing her eyes, even as she settled into her chair a bit more. "What is your problem?"

When Rani didn't answer, Melody sighed. "Tell them what's going on, Nyx."

"Start from the beginning." I added. Rani sighed.

"Well, our first mistake was bringing our favorite Proffesor back from the dead." She began. She sighed audibly. "It was Gully's idea – he was always our leader – but I was the one who did it."

"How?" I questioned sharply.

"Black magic." She replied. I rolled my eyes. "It's real. It's hard, and requires a lot of study, but my brother wasn't the only good student Dr. Wrath had. I found a few books, figured out what I needed to do, and used the right spell. He reformed from the ashes before our eyes. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever see or done."

Despite her words, she didn't look too happy about her accomplishment. "Dr. Wrath was angry, though. Once he realized how much time had passed since Skylar Storm and your Normo friends defeated him, he was furious that it took us as long as it did. Said that if we were better students, it would have only taken us a couple of weeks, rather than a couple of years." She explained. "It didn't take him long to start planning for world domination. He found a couple of other like-minded villains with growing criminal organizations, and they struck."

"Which villains?" Alivia questioned, cutting her off. "And what kind of deal?"

"I don't know for sure. Dr. Wrath didn't really trust us with something like names." She said bitterly. "But the deal was they'd each get a section of the world to control. Dr. Wrath was supposed to get both North America and South America, and the other two were supposed to split the rest of the planet up."

"Sounds like you guys hit the jackpot. What went wrong?" I questioned.

"Dr. Wrath hit the jackpot. Chaz, Gully, and I? Not so much." She replied, her voice cool. "We were always expendable; all Dr. Wrath needed us for was to bring him back. Chaz overheard him talking and as it turns out, once he got what he wanted, he was going to cut off all loose ends."

"Your own boss was going to take you out?" Melody looked surprised. Amateur – once you'd been in the superhero business long enough, you stopped being surprised by how low your enemies could get.

"I guess that he thought that if we could bring him back, we could pose a threat. Chaz told my brother and I, and we made a plan to leave. Except, Dr. Wrath found out before we could." Rani continued. She hesitated before continuing, a distracted look crossing her face.

"Well?" I prompted, impatient.

"What Spotlight means to say is, what did Dr. Wrath do?" Alivia asked, shooting me a silencing look.

"One of his partners sent a few of his henchmen to aid Dr. Wrath, as a sign of good faith in their new partnership or something. They caught us trying to escape." She continued. She took a deep breath. "I barely got out of there alive, but Gully was captured and Chaz…one of them blasted him through a window on the 4th floor. He's dead."

"But you got out." What were the odds that she was the only one who escaped? "What a coincidence."

"Hey, why don't you-" Rani turned around to glare furiously at me, but Alivia cut her off.

"Knock it off." She snapped, looking directly at me. I stared back, wondering why she was on my back, and taking this villain for her word. Rani had manipulated us before – trusting her now was a mistake.

"So, what exactly do you want?" Alivia questioned, looking at Rani.

"My brother." Rani stated. "Frostbite and I had a deal – I'd help her take out Dr. Wrath, as a bit of a revenge, then I save Gully and we walk away. You never bother us again."

"You want to disappear into the shadows." Alivia mused. "And then what will you do?"

"That's none of your concern." Rani retorted. "That was the deal I agreed to. No one said anything about when it's over."

"We're not going to agree to that." I told her.

"Without a minor adjustment." Alivia corrected. I looked at her in disbelief, but she ignored me. "When it's all over, we get in your way, so long as you stay out of ours."

"Sounds reasonable. How do I know I can trust you?" Rani questioned.

"You and Gulliver are obviously little fish if Dr. Wrath is willing to get rid of you so quickly, and I'd prefer to take out the real threat." Alivia reasoned. Melody nodded.

"We could care less about what you and your brother do when you're finished helping us." She added. "Like I said before, we get what we want, you get what you want, everyone wins."

"Except for Dr. Wrath." Alivia added. Rani smirked at the idea.

"Sounds like a deal." She decided.

"Geminus, Frostbite, a word?" I cleared my throat. The girls exchanged looks, one of confusion and one of exasperation, then followed me to the corridor with the bathrooms. I kept Rani in my line of sight, watching as she fiddled with a tea spoon.

"Okay, what is your deal?" Melody demanded.

"Short form? They've met, he had a thing for her, she betrayed us." Alivia summarized.

"I didn't have a thing for her." I retorted.

"You gave her your number." She pointed.

"I gave every girl my number." I pointed.

"Enough!" Melody hissed. "Look, if you don't trust her, you don't have to be a part of this. This is my contact, this is my meeting, I'm gonna work with her."

"So am I." Alivia agreed.

"This is reckless and stupid." I snapped. "She's betrayed us before, who's to say she won't again?"

"You're right; she's a super villain. But Dr. Wrath killed Chaz, and I have the feeling he was more than just a friend. So, say she's not doing this to save her brother, that means she's doing this for revenge." Alivia replied with a smirk. "And no one does revenge quite like a villain."

** Angela's POV **

"I don't like this." Alan complained. Lily looked at him in surprise.

"I think this is the first time we've ever agreed on something." She realized.

"Don't get used to it." The shapeshifter grumbled. "But I don't like her more than I don't like you."

"Is she really that bad?" Barry questioned. "I met her before; she didn't seem so bad."

"She brought Dr. Wrath back from the dead." I pointed out, just as the door to Melody's apartment opened up. Alivia, Liam, and Melody walked in, along with the villain in question.

"We're gonna work with Nyx, alright?" Alivia's tone really didn't give us the opportunity to argue.

"Awesome. Sounds great." Lily faked a smile, having agreed with Alan and I earlier. She got off the couch. "So, what exactly is the plan?"

"Dr. Wrath abandoned his base of operations after our escape attempt, probably because of what I know, so he's not going to be easy to find." Rani sighed. Alivia glanced at Lily, but the psychic shrugged.

"I can track him, but I need something of his." She told her.

"Alright, then we should search his former lair." The red-head decided.

"I told you; it's cleaned out." Rani insisted.

"They might have missed something." I suggested. "And even we can't find anything of Dr. Wrath's to track him with, there might be a clue to where we should start looking."

"Let's get this over with." Liam grumbled, grabbing his bag off the ground and slung it over his shoulder. He shot Rani a mistrustful look. "Before we regret this."


	4. Old Lairs

** Alivia's POV **

"This place is actually pretty nice." Lily commented as she opened drawers. Once we'd reached Dr. Wrath's original base, we'd all split into twos to cover more ground. Lily and I took the top floor, Angela and Barry took the third, Liam and Rani took the second, and Alan and Melody took the first. "You know, for a villain's lair. You'd have thought villains would have creepier lairs."

"Some do, some don't." I shrugged, opening up the filing cabinet. This room had been an office before, possibly belonging to Dr. Wrath himself. "I've seen both."

"Still, it's weird." Lily mentioned. She shoved the drawers closed with a sigh. "Empty."

"They were smart. Cleaned out the place." I agreed, closing the filing cabinet.

"Well, I can't track them if we don't find anything for me to use as an anchor." She muttered as we moved onto the next room. This one was a conference room. "Seriously, this is a lair?"

I chuckled, amused. "Rani said that Dr. Wrath did everything here. His labs, where his henchmen lived, where he conducted his business…twenty bucks says he executed people here too."

"Yeah, probably." Lily agreed as we began to search the room. "You know, this is actually nice."

"I know. Dr. Wrath's a fancy dude." I agreed absently.

"No, I mean, having another girl to chat with. Liam's nice, but you kinda get sick of him flirting with every girl he sees, you know?" She commented, sending me a smirk. I laughed, agreeing with her. "And the whole team thing. I missed being a hero, and it's good to know you've got someone to have your back."

"You've always been solo, though, right?" From what I knew about the Scarlet Ace from before Mighty Med was that she'd been a vigilante from Chicago, who'd started her rounds a few years back.

"Yeah, but…this is different, but I like it." Lily shrugged. She looked over at me. "I mean, it was obviously never part of my plan to be part of a team. You?"

"I always wanted to be one of the League members." It had been my dream since I was a little kid, actually. My dad had been a League member since before I was born. I mean, it was part of why I became a superhero – to be more like him, I guess. That, and saving people, of course. "Didn't you?"

"Not really. I just wanted to stop bad guys." Lily replied. She swept her flashlight across the room. "I hope the others are doing better than we are."

** Rani's POV **

"This is a waste of time." I muttered as Spotlight and I went searching through the rooms. This had been the dormitory area when Dr. Wrath had been in charge – where all of his henchmen, and those on loan from his partners, stayed during their downtime. "Dr. Wrath rarely came down here; if we're trying to find something of his, this is the wrong place to look."

"Yeah, and I'm absolutely going to take your word on that." Spotlight replied, his tone full of sarcasm. I rolled my eyes, tired of his skepticism. He finished going through the drawers in Gully's nightstand. "Next room. C'mon."

He didn't say another word as he moved down the hall. "You know, you're actually going to have to trust me eventually." I commented. "We're stuck working together on this."

"Yeah, you tricked me before, Shadow Girl. Not gonna fall for it again." He reminded me, stopping at another door. I paused, knowing whose room it was even before he opened it. "You gonna help, or just stand there and look pretty?"

"Why don't I take another room? If you're going to insist on checking this floor, then we might as well split up and make it go a little faster." I suggested, hovering outside the door.

"No way. I'm not letting you out of my sight." He refused. I sighed and walked in, sitting down on the bed and glaring at him. "Whose room is this?"

"Um…Chaz. It was Chaz's." I mumbled, smoothing down a fold on the covers on the bed. It was really the only thing untouched in the room – aside from the desk and dresser, both of which were surely empty, the room had been cleaned out of everything. Even the posters from VU that had been up on the wall had been torn down. Spotlight glanced at me.

"You guys were close, right?" He guessed. I nodded slowly. "Dating?"

I shrugged. I wouldn't exactly have called it dating; we were almost always working, and never really had time to go out. But we'd spent a lot of time together, in this room, together, and there had definitely been something happening there. But before it could really move beyond the physical aspect of the relationship, Dr. Wrath had…well, there was no going back now. I sighed and stood up.

"Seriously, Hero Boy, let me go check elsewhere. Dr. Wrath mostly worked on the third floors. We'd get more done if I go help the two archers up there." I insisted. Anything to get out of here, and frankly, I was getting annoyed with Spotlight's lack of trust in me. Was the mistrust earned? Absolutely, but that didn't mean I had to put up with it.

"Like I said, I don't trust you." He shot back at me.

"I'm not sabotage my best chance at saving my brother." I insisted. "I just want to get Gully and leave before Dr. Wrath kills either of us."

"You know, this is your fault." Spotlight mentioned. I looked at him, narrowing my eyes. "If you'd just left Dr. Wrath as he was, you wouldn't be in this mess."

"You think I don't know that?" I snapped, pushing myself off the bed. I glared furiously at Spotlight. "You think I don't know that we screwed up? That Chaz would still be alive if I'd never found those stupid spell books? I am very aware of the consequences of our actions and I don't need you to remind me or judge me, got it?"

"Nyx-" Spotlight began, but I cut him off.

"No, shut up, seriously." I snapped, losing my cool. "I'm not perfect and I will be the first to admit it, but you have no right to-"

Suddenly, Spotlight grabbed me by the arm and shoved me to the ground, both of us hitting the floor just as a large, swarm-like cloud soared past our heads. The swarm changed shape before us, turning into a tall, dark haired boy. "You're what attacked Mighty Med." Spotlight realized.

"Rune." I greeted, recognizing one of the henchmen that had been sent to assist Dr. Wrath. He, along with his siblings, Roman, Ruby, and Riker, had been sent by their boss to help out.It had been Rune who'd captured Gully.

"You shouldn't have come back here, Rani." He mused, smirking confidently. "You're just making it too easy."

"Go to hell." I snapped, forming balls of shadowy energy around my hands. Time for a little revenge.


	5. Interesting Findings

** Liam's POV **

Rani reacted instantly once she recognized the black-haired guy in front of us, shooting two balls of shadow energy at him before she had even gotten back to her feet. She rolled onto the balls of her feet, shooting another ball of shadows when the shapeshifter ducked out of the way of the other two. This one hit him in the chest, knocking him back several feet.

I got to my feet myself, ready to blast the shapeshifter, but he had already turned back into a swarm and disappeared into the shadows. "Where is it?" I demanded, looking around.

"Well, how should I know?" Rani snapped back.

"But you know him?" I questioned. She nodded.

"That's Rune. He-" She was cut off when the swarm burst from the darkness and shot right at her. It hit her in the shoulder, almost knocking her over, before it disappeared once more. I raised my hands, casting a stream of light into the shadows, but couldn't catch sight of the villain. "I hate that guy."

I ducked as the swarm flew straight over my head, shooting a stream of physical light at him. It barely missed. "For once, I don't disagree with you."

We both ducked as the swarm came at us again. "I've got an idea." Rani told me.

"Yeah. No thanks. I've got this." I assured her, blasting a massive beam of light at the swarm. This time, I hit my target, forcing him to transform back into himself. The guy stumbled as he landed on the ground, then turned to me, smirking. He raised his hand and shot a ball of energy at me. I dodged it, then went to shoot him again, but another ball of energy, presumably having been shot right after the last, caught me off guard. It hit me in the shoulder, throwing me back against the wall behind me.

"You sure you don't need my help?" Rani questioned, leaning against the wall and raised an eyebrow at me. I pointedly ignored her, then shot a stream of light at him. He shapeshifted again, turning into a swarm just in time for the light beam to go harmlessly through it. He shot at me, shifting so that the second attack I sent his way was missed completely. I swung around as he came at me, causing him to miss. He reformed on my opposite side and I glared at hi.

Raising one hand, I shot a ball of light at him. At the same time, Rani pushed herself off the wall and raised her own hand, shooting a ball of shadows at the same target as my attack. The two blasts, dark and light, combined and hit Rune at the same time. The force of the blast threw the villain through the wall behind him, the criminal hitting the ground hard.

Rani took a step towards him, but Rune gave her a hateful glare, then transformed into a swarm once more and fled into the hall. "What was that?" I demanded, looking over at Rani.

"Ever heard of twilight manipulation?" She retorted. She rolled her eyes at my blank expression. "Shadow and light, you combine physical forms of their power, like my shadow balls and your light ones, and it doubles their strength. Read a book once in a while, nitwit."

"Nitwit?" I repeated, mildly offended. Suddenly, a set of footsteps came from the hall. Both Rani and I prepared attacks, then stopped short when Angela and Barry ran in.

"I'm guessing you guys got attacked too?" Barry guessed. Rani nodded.

"Rune. He's a shapeshifter that works for one of Dr. Wrath's partners." She explained. Angela nodded.

"Riker was waiting for us. I told you about him." She added, nodding at me. "You guys alright?"

"We're fine." Rani replied, crossing her arms. "But he got away. Probably ran off to tell Dr. Wrath we were here."

"Same with Riker." Barry nodded.

" _Hey!"_ Alivia's voice came over the comms.  _"We're with Alan and Melody now. We got attacked by a pair of shapeshifters. Could be that Roman and Riker that Dani warned me about."_

"That's a negative, boss." I told her, turning on my comm. "Crossbow and Arciere just dealt with Riker. Me and Rani tussled it up with another shapeshifter, named Rune."

" _So, they're not working alone."_ Melody mused.  _"They got away from us, but keep a lookout. They could be back."_

"Copy that." Angela replied. She sighed. "Alright, we came down here when we heard the sounds of fighting, but we're not done our floor. We should get back to that."

"A little change of plans though." Rani interrupted. I looked at her sharply. "Arciere, you and me switch. I think I've had about as much as I can stomach of Lightbulb here."

"Sure." Barry agreed with a shrug. Rani pushed past him and stalked down the hall towards the stairs, Angela following closely behind. I sighed irritably, rolling my shoulder. Barry looked at me. "What did you do to piss her off?"

"I told her why I didn't trust her. She didn't like my response." I replied, giving the room I was in one last look. "This one's clean. C'mon."

"Cut her some slack, would you? She's not an idiot; she knows this is her best chance to save her brother." Barry reasoned as we moved onto the next room. I opened the door, revealing a small bedroom with deep purple walls, a desk, a dresser, and a stripped bed. Light shone in from an open window.

"If her brother is really in trouble." I added. He gave me a look as we began to check the room. I immediately went for the mattress, tipping it over to see if anything had been left behind. "You weren't a hero yet, but Rani, her brother, and their best friend Chaz managed to manipulate their way into Mighty Med to find a way to bring Dr. Wrath back from the dead. This mess is their fault; I don't get why we're helping her fix it."

"Because Dr. Wrath is one of the most dangerous criminals in the world, and he's teamed up with two other potentially really dangerous villains." Barry commented, pulling open drawers. "He's a problem for all of us. The ends justify the means, right?"

"Not always." I mumbled, checking under the bed.

"Either way, we should give her the benefit of the-huh." Barry cut himself off, pawing under the desk. I looked over at him in time to see him pull a large, ratty old book out from under the desk. He held it up to the window to get a better look. "I've never seen writing like this. What is it?"

He handed it off to me and I flipped through it, frowning. It was a weird book, with odd drawings of plants and astronomical charts, the writing completely unfamiliar. After a moment, it dawned on me what it is. "Hey, I bet this is Rani's spell book."

"The one she used to bring Dr. Wrath back?" Barry questioned. I nodded.

"This must be her room." I realized. Huh, I was expecting something a little more…dungeon-y. I looked back at the book, considered contacting her over the comms to let her know we found it, but then I thought about how powerful it would make her. "Hey, don't tell her we have this."

"What?" Barry looked at me, confused.

"I'm serious. This thing could be dangerous. Let's keep it to ourselves until we know for sure if we can trust her." I insisted, shoving it into the bag he'd brought with him. He sighed, but nodded.

"Alright. If you say so." He agreed reluctantly, just as Alan's voice came over the comms.

" _Hey, Rani, didn't you, Gulliver, and Chaz each own a 2D gun?"_  He questioned.

" _Yeah. Why?"_  Rani replied.

" _We found one."_  Melody told her.

" _There should be a letter on the bottom. What is it?"_  Rani questioned sharply. There was a brief pause.

" _It's a G. It was Gulliver's?"_  Melody guessed. When Rani replied in the affirmative, Barry and I looked at each other.

I smiled. "If Gulliver's being held by Dr. Wrath, can we use it to find them?"

" _The connection should be strong enough."_  Lily confirmed.

" _Good work. Let's get out of here."_  Alivia ordered.

** Xxx **

"A little cramped, isn't it?" Rani commented as we walked into Melody's apartment.

"It was my aunt's." She explained with a shrug. "I know it's small, but she didn't really have company over very much."

"Here it is." Alan pulled the 2D gun out of his bag. He handed it over to Lily, who turned it over in her hands. "Well? Hurry up and find Dr. Wrath."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. I have to search for his aura over the entire planet. It's harder than it sounds." Lily explained, frowning.

"And less crazy, I assume?" Angela questioned.

"I'm sure Lily knows what she's doing." Alivia assured the others. She glanced at Lily. "You do know what you're doing, right?"

"Of course I do." Lily replied, waving her hand dismissively. Rani nodded.

"Great. How long?" Rani questioned. Lily shook her head.

"I don't know. It's not an exact science." She replied. "Could be hours, could be weeks."

"Then I guess we should settle in." I commented, dropping onto the couch. "We could be here a while."


	6. Night on the Town

** Rani's POV **

"C'mon! You've been in there forever, man!" Barry complained, pounding on the bathroom door. I shook my head and passed him by in the hall, hearing Spotlight shout for him to wait his turn.

"There is going to be no hot water left by time they're done." Alan complained, leaning against the wall. I ignored him and headed to the kitchen, where the Lily, Angela, Melody, and Alivia were all waiting. Angela and Alivia were in the middle of an argument, something about Angela not wanting to share the guest bedroom with anyone else.

Melody's apartment was small, made for at most three people, let alone eight. Between there only being two beds and two couches, and the one washroom, it already felt cramped enough. Not to mention, most of us didn't get along that well. While most of them had gotten used to my presence, Spotlight still was acting like a jerk (at this point, I think he was just hating me for the sake of hating me) and though I sort of understood why, it didn't man I had to like it. And being trapped in a small apartment with someone who hated you was even worse. At least last week's visitor gave us an excuse to get out of the apartment for a while.

** FLASHBACK **

" _You know what? Why don't you-" Spotlight and I were in the middle of some argument when a loud creak in the hallway got all of our attentions. We all froze, knowing that the other apartments on this floor were supposed to be vacant for one reason or another, and that we should be the only ones up here._

" _One of Dr. Wrath's minions? Or one of his partners'?" Angela guessed, standing up from her spot on the couch._

" _How could they have found us?" Barry questioned, confused. I looked at the others, then crept towards the door. I listened closely, just in case it was a cleaning person or something, but then I heard more footsteps, definitely heading towards our door. I waited for a pause in the footsteps, then threw the door open and lunged towards the minion. I grabbed the girl by the arm and forced her against the wall, tightening my grip so that she knew I'd break her arm if she tried to pull away._

" _What the hell?" The brunette demanded._

" _Who do you work for?" I demanded as the others stepped out into the hall to join me. "Dr. Wrath?"_

" _Doctor who?" She exclaimed, bewildered. I pushed her into the wall even rougher, but Alivia stopped me._

" _Wait…I know you." She realized. She nodded for me to release her, and after a moment, I reluctantly stepped away from the girl. "You're Calla Parker; you're part of the Elite Force."_

_ Calla didn't answer her, instead looking at me. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you attack everyone that comes to the door?" _

" _Pretty much." Spotlight spoke up. I turned to glare at him._

" _What are you doing here? Is everything alright?" Barry asked Calla. The brunette shook her head._

" _No." She said solemnly. "We need your help."_

** FLASHBACK OVER **

Admittedly, defeating the shapeshifters had been a little fun, and just the break we all needed, but now that that was over and we were stuck back in this tiny apartment together, I was SO over the whole teamwork thing.

"I know I promised to be good, but if I have to stay here with them," I said to Melody, jerking my head at the others, "for one more hour, I'm going to kill someone. Probably Spotlight."

"I hear you." She agreed with me. She looked at Lily, who was staring at my brother's 2D gun intently, even as she ate her breakfast. "I don't suppose you've found Dr. Wrath?"

"It's not easy, especially with all of these distractions." She waved vaguely at the others. "I've narrowed it down, though. It's somewhere in the US, upper half I think."

"That's all you've got?" I protested. For all I knew, Dr. Wrath could have killed Gully by now. The quicker we found my former teacher, the faster I could get my brother and get out of there.

"I'm working as fast as I can. I know you want to save Gulliver." Lily assured me. She looked at Alivia and Angela, then added loudly. "It'd be easier if everyone just shut up and let me focus though."

The two arguing girls stopped, then looked away sheepishly. "Thank you." Lily said sweetly. I sighed dramatically and lay my head on the counter, the sounds of Barry and Spotlight arguing about who takes longer showers echoing in my ears.

** Alan's POV **

"Alivia is going to kill us." Barry insisted as we stepped into the guest room.

"She's not the boss of us." I replied dismissively. "She can't tell us what to do."

"Uh, yeah, she can." Barry pointed out. "She's in charge."

"Well, I don't have to listen to her." Alivia was nice and all, had even been nice to me back when most heroes hated me, but I was sick of her thinking she was our leader. No one elected her, and personally I thought I'd make a better leader than she would.

I threw open the window that led to the fire escape, ready to leave. We weren't going to be gone for long, just a couple of hours away from the others. This place was just too cramped. But before either Barry or I could leave, a subtle couch came from the doorway.

"What do we have here?" Rani mused, leaning against the doorframe. "You two making a run for it?"

"No." I lied. Barry smirked.

"We needed a break. You in?" He offered. I looked at him, surprised by how chill he was with the former villain. Rani smiled, a genuine, not bitter smile.

"Absolutely." She sauntered past us, swung her leg out the window, and fell down to the fire escape. "You boys coming or what?"

** xxx **

"This is your idea of fun?" I questioned skeptically, looking at Barry. He grinned, dribbling a basketball. Barry had dragged us (well, dragged me; Rani was going along willingly) to an empty basketball court, near a rec center.

"Well, there's not much we can do in the city without cash, and besides, I miss being on the court." He reasoned, passing the ball between both his hands. He stopped, then grinned. "Now c'mon. A little game of twenty-one never hurt anyone."

He threw the ball at me and, thought I fumbled with it, I caught it before it hit the ground. Rani watched us, amused. "Uh, I've never played, and besides, this is boring. I bet Rani would rather do something else."

"Nah, watching you get your butt kicked is all the fun I need." She replied, sitting down on one of the bleachers. She leaned back and crossed her legs, a smirk plastered across her face. Barry mirrored her expression.

"Alright, Diaz. Let's see what you've got." He declared.

** Alivia's POV **

I sighed, lounging on the couch. I flipped through some pages on my new IPad, curtesy of Davenport Industries. With Roddiseus' death, we'd managed to take out one of Dr. Wrath's partners, but not only were two of his sons still out there, wanting revenge, but he still had another partner. I had an idea of who it might be, but I needed to be sure before anyone did anything stupid.

I was just getting through the last of the articles when Crossbow walked into the kitchen. She looked around, confused. "Hey, anyone seen Rani, Barry, or Alan?"

"Have you checked their rooms?" Liam questioned, raising his head away from the TV. Lily, who was sitting on the couch, focusing on the 2D gun, even broke her attention away from it.

"I just did." Melody announced, stepping out from the hall. She shook her head. "They're gone."

"You think something happened to them?" Lily inquired. I shook my head.

"More likely they snuck out." I guessed with a sigh. I expected this from Rani and Alan – she was trouble and he usually didn't think too much before doing something he wanted – but Barry was supposed to be reliable. "Damn it, guys."

"Chill." Liam told me, a resigned smirk on his face. "I'll go grab them and bring them back."

"We'll come with." Angela offered, as she and Melody stood up.

"Some fresh air would be nice." The Brit agreed. "And besides, it'll give Lily some peace and quiet to locate Rani's brother."

"Thank you." Lily agreed, not taking her eyes off of the weapon in her hands. She frowned in concentration, deeply focused.

"Alright. Call me if you get into any trouble. Don't forget – Dr. Wrath's still got guys coming after us, so be careful." I insisted.

"Got it, boss." Liam assured me as they walked out. I sighed, irritated. The last thing we needed right now was for half our team to get into trouble. We needed to focus, we needed to plan, we needed people to not do anything stupid.

"Hey, let up a little. We all needed a break from each other; they just took the initiative." Lily reasoned.

"Yeah, but there's Dr. Wrath and his minions to worry about. And not to mention, Roddiseus has two sons unaccounted for, and I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Reese handed one of them the list of superheroes and their locations."

"They can handle themselves. I mean, you saw them when we fought with the Elite Force and the Bionic Heroes." She reminded me. I sighed, then chuckled softly.

"Liam's still sore about Rani pushing him out of the way of that shapeshifter's blast." I mused. Lily nodded, finally looking away.

"Oh, yeah. He's trying to be mad at her for being a villain, but even he's having a hard time." She agreed. "But seriously, you saw how they fought and they're not stupid; they're not going to get into any trouble."

** Alan's POV **

"C'mon, that's not fair." Barry complained. I laughed, throwing the basketball towards the net. Like the others, it started to fall short, but then it floated higher into the air, and back into the net. "No powers, guys!"

"Magic doesn't count as a power; anyone can learn it." Rani teased, smiling as she lowered her hand. Barry looked at her incredulously.

"Why are you even helping him?" He demanded.

"I got tired of how pathetic he looked." She shrugged. I raised my hands and used my telekinesis to draw the ball back over to me.

"The score's 6 to 5 now, right?" I guessed. Both of them looked at me.

"12 to 3." Rani corrected. "Man, you are really bad at math."

Before I could argue with her, another voice broke into the conversation. "Hey, you guys got room for a couple more?"

Spinning around, we discovered that there were two guys, about Barry's age, standing behind us. They both had dark hair and daring glares, identifying them as the two missing shapeshifters that destroyed Mighty Med – Rune and Riker.

"We hear you've been looking for us." Riker mused, smirking at us.


	7. Team Dynamics

** Alan's POV **

"You have got to be kidding me." Rani shook her head, pushing herself off the bleachers. Rune and Riker approached us, both smirking confidently. "How the hell did you even find us?"

"That list the Elite Force compiled gave us your location." Rune bragged. "You think we were going to let you get away with what you did to our family?"

"No, but we didn't think you'd be stupid enough to challenge us." Barry retorted, dropping the basketball in his hands. "Not after we kicked their asses."

"You're going to pay for that." Riker vowed. I stepped back and began to shapeshifter, falling onto all fours as fur broke out all over my body. The lion form had worked well against their brother, I figured it was the best animal to go with here.

"Like hell we are." Rani snapped, raising her hand. The villain's own shadow rose from the ground and targeted him, tackling him in an attempt to smother him. Barry tried to help her, racing over to the bleachers where he'd left his bow. Meanwhile, I charged at Rune then pounced, intending on taking him out, but he quickly shapeshifted into his signature swarm form, causing me to fall through him and back to the ground. He shot into the sky, circling us, while his brother managed to escape Rani's shadow attack.

Riker stepped into the middle of us, eying all of us dangerously as Barry, Rani, and I cornered him. I kept an eye on Rune, knowing that he could attack at any moment, but this was hardly going to be a difficult fight. There were only two of them, and we were arguably the most powerful on our team (well, I was anyway. Barry was a Normo, so he was hardly at my level, and Rani…well, actually, she scared me a bit, so I won't go there), so it wasn't like they had a chance.

Riker looked between all of us, possibly considering surrender, then, to my surprise, he smirked. He raised both of his hands, then suddenly shot two blasts, balls of a purple, fiery substance, at me and Rani. The blasts hit both of us before we could avoid them, throwing us into the air. I hit the fence that surrounded the basketball court, then hit the ground roughly.

"C'mon!" I shook my head, wincing and looked up at the sound of Barry's frustrated shout. Rune, still in his swarm form, surrounded the archer, preventing him from even seeing Riker. I saw a couple of arrows shoot through Rune's swarm, passing through him harmlessly. "How the hell am I supposed to shoot you if you won't stop moving?!"

Pushing back to my feet, I raced towards Riker, only for him to turn into a swarm. I leapt through him and his brother, accidently knocking Barry to the ground. Thankfully, he rolled out of the way before I could accidently flatten him under the weight of my lion form.

During all this, Rani had managed to recover, and began shooting beams of shadow energy at the swarms, but like us, she was having trouble connecting a hit. The shapeshifters were just too quick – I was beginning to understand why the Elite Force had such a hard time defeating two of them to begin with.

The swarms suddenly darted down towards us. I braced myself, knowing running or dodging wouldn't work, and closed my eyes as the shapeshifter swarm barreled right into me. I managed to stand my ground, though Rani and Barry weren't as lucky. When the swarms flew back into the sky, both of them were on the ground, crawling back to their feet.

"Okay, that's it." Rani growled. She heaved herself off the ground, then rubbed her hands together. "I'm done messing around."

She raised her hands to blast the swarms, but before she could, a beam of light shot through them, scattering the swarms away from each other. Before they could recover, a couple of plasma arrows shot through the swarms, followed by two large froze spikes.

"Hey!" Liam came jogging in from the street, both Melody and Angela hot on his heels. "You guys alright?"

"We were before you got here." Rani muttered. "We had this handled. We don't need your help."

"Your stubbornness is going to get you kill." Angela advised, reloading her weapon. "Accept the help; you are part of a team now."

"She is?" Liam glanced at Angela. Rani looked at him, incredulously, before shaking her head.

"Wow, I feel SO welcome." She commented sarcastically. I looked back up into the sky to see the swarm beginning to descend on us. I growled loudly, warning the others of the approaching danger, before leaping through the swarm again. The others dodged the swarm, but the moment it past, Melody spun around and blasted it with her cryoblast. The icy wave hit the swarm dead on, actually making contact with it as opposed to our blasts. For a moment, it seemed to hurt them, then they shapeshifted again, landing on the balls of their feet as they, now in human form, fell from the air.

"I heard shapeshifters like you didn't like the cold." Melody mocked as the shapeshifters glared at us. Both of them attacked at once, one of them shooting blasts of plasma energy at us while the other had this kind of dark electricity thing going on.

"You guys take Riker! We've got Rune!" Angela shouted at us, running off with Melody and Barry to draw the other shapeshifter away. Liam, Rani, and I turned on the remaining shapeshifter.

"You're dead." He growled.

"No, I don't think so." Rani replied, raising her hands. She blasted a wave of shadow energy at him, only for him to dodge it.

"I have an idea!" Liam hissed. He glanced at me. "Hold him down?"

Gladly. I waited for Rani to try and blast Riker again, then when he dodged her blow once more, I leapt at him, taking advantage of his distraction. I plowed into him, pinning him to the ground. He struggled beneath, managing to get one arm free. He raised it, ready to blast into oblivion, when Liam finally shouted, "Move!"

I rolled off the shapeshifter just in time for Rani and Liam to simultaneously blast him, the force of both the light and dark attacks enough to throw Riker into the air. He landed on the hard ground, in the middle of the basketball court.

"Rune!" He grounded out, slowing rolling onto his hands and knees. He cast us a hateful glare before turning back into his swarm form, and flying away. Rune followed suit, escaping his own losing battle to catch up with his brother.

"Well, that went well." I commented, half-jokingly as I turned back into my human form. The others all looked at me incredulously.

"C'mon." Melody sighed. "Let's get back to my flat before Alivia loses it."

** Rani's POV **

"What the hell were you thinking?" Alivia demanded, the moment we walked through the door. "Running off like that? You could have been killed! You could have drawn those shapeshifters back to the rest of us!"

"I'm not sure which one she's madder about." Barry whispered. I smirked.

"Seriously, can't you do as your told for once?" Alivia sighed in frustration. "And maybe try not to get killed?"

"Do as we're told?" Alan repeated. "Who put you in charge?"

"I'm the one who put this team together!" Alivia snapped. He snorted in amusement.

"And that means you get to boss all of us around? I have as much right to lead as you do!" He argued. "Hell, I might even be better at it!"

"Yes, I'm sure." She rolled her eyes.

"I could be! My father was on the original League of Heroes, same as yours. What gives you the right to tell us what to do?" Alan demanded.

"Look, who's in charge doesn't matter. All Alivia was trying to say was that we've all lost enough family and friends to be taking stupid risks." Lily cut in, standing up from her spot on the couch. "And further more, quit arguing and go pack your stuff."

"You found Gulliver's location?" I demanded quickly, forcing myself to stay calm. Just because she found him, didn't mean my brother was alright, let alone still alive. Lily nodded.

"Yeah, I found him." She promised, giving me a gentle smile. "He's in New York. I have an exact location."

"We'll leave in the morning." Alivia decided. Alan looked at her, annoyed, then stalked off to his room. We all separated, going our separate ways. We were all a little hyped up on adrenaline (most of us from the fight, Alivia from unnecessary stress about our wellbeing, and Lily from her success at finding my brother), so I think we all needed to cool down a bit. Knowing that I wouldn't get much privacy hanging inside the apartment, I slipped out the window and onto the fire escape.

Night had fallen already, the sun having gone down on our way back to the apartment. I looked up at the sky and took a breath, wondering if this was really the best course of action. Siding with these superheroes, a number of which didn't trust me, to try and save Gulliver. If I could get Lily to tell me his location, I could try and do it myself, I supposed. It might be for the best, seeing as they wanted to take on Dr. Wrath and the rest of his minions. At the very least, Gully and I could escape without putting ourselves in danger-

"Hey." I looked up to see Spotlight sitting on the windowsill. I rolled my eyes, annoyed.

"I'm not running off again, if that's what you're worried about." I assured him. "I just wanted some air; can't I do that in peace?"

"Okay, I think may deserve the hostility." He admitted sheepishly. "I guess I've been a bit of a hard-ass lately."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." I replied.

"I'm sorry, alright? I'm a superhero; I'm used to fighting the bad guy, saving the day, getting the girl. Everything used to be so black and white. And now…" He shook his head. "Former superheroes like Roddiseus have gone dark side, and we're working with former villains. Things are a little confusing, and I guess I took a bit of that out on you."

I sighed, recognizing the sincerity in his voice. "It's fine. I get it, I was the villain. Not to mention, we're practically polar opposites."

"Which oddly has been working out in our favor." He smiled in confusion. "Anyway, tomorrow we're going to have to be at our best, and I thought this might help."

He reached inside the apartment, then pulled out a large book wrapped in cloth. He handed it to me, then climbed back into the apartment. "Just…don't use that on us, alright?"

"No promises." I teased, watching him go back inside. I looked back at his gift, and slowly unwrapped the cloth it was cover in, revealing the old spell book that I'd found in Dr. Wrath's storage units. I bit back a smile, running my fingers along the ancient pages, examining the spells.

Alright, maybe this whole team thing wasn't such bad idea after all.


	8. Breaking In

** Alivia's POV **

You ever just get that really bad feeling that something's going to go wrong? Yeah, I had that feeling deep in the pit of my stomach as I looked at my team.

We'd been in New York for a few hours now, and already tensions were high. I could tell Alan still wasn't happy with me being in charge, though I shouldn't be so surprised. He'd always been a bit of a hot head, not to mention egotistical, and a combination like that was always dangerous in a group setting. He felt he was better suited to be in charge, and while I wasn't going to delude myself into thinking I was the most capable person in the world to lead this team, I knew I could handle things better than Alan.

Rani wasn't much better. Though things were looking up with her and Liam (I don't know what happened, but so long as they weren't lunging at each other's throats every time the other spoke, I didn't care), she was more than a little tense, unable to sit still for much longer than 30 seconds. I'd been concerned that it meant she was up to something – as much as I wanted to trust her, she was still a villain – but Lily believed that she was just worried about her brother. Still, I kept my eye on her throughout the day as we narrowed in on Dr. Wrath's position.

As for the others, everyone was a bit on edge, likely from the anticipation of going after Dr. Wrath. He himself had never been overly powerful, but his knowledge of the dark arts, combined with his influence as a leader, had made him into quite the formidable foe over the years. And now, finally, we were going to take him out. It made sense that everyone was a little hyped on adrenaline right about now.

"So, you're sure they're in there?" Angela questioned as we looked down at the hideout from the hotel room we'd managed to get. It was a few blocks away, so we could really only see the top of the building, but one look at the name on the building, coupled with my theories about Dr. Wrath's second partner, confirmed that it was the location.

"AG Inc." Barry hummed. He glanced at me. "Didn't Bridget Short own that company?"

"Yep." I pursed my lips in a tight line.

"You think she's involved?" Liam guessed. I nodded slowly. "Have you told Oliver and Dani?"

"One problem at a time. Let's deal with Dr. Wrath before we worry ourselves about a villain that hasn't been seen in over a year." Clearing my throat, I turned to the others. "Alright, Lily and I went over the building's schematics last night on the train ride here."

"The building has three floors, but judging by the power surges on the third floor, that's probably where Dr. Wrath does most of his work." Lily went over the details. "I've been able to detect about twenty or so people in the building. We know at least one of them is Dr. Wrath, and presumably another is Gulliver Shore. The rest are likely the shapeshifters, Rune and Riker, along with minions of Dr. Wrath and his mysterious third partner."

"Right, so here's the plan: Alan, Melody, and Barry, you guys are going to go in through the back entrance. It's most likely to be guarded, so try and take out the guards as quietly as you can, then work your way over to the western stairwell. Use that to make it to the third floor." I ordered. "Liam, Rani, and Angela, there's a fire escape on the eastern wall. According to the information we got on the building, it's supposedly broken, which means it's not likely to be that guarded. You guys find a way to break in, then get to the third floor using the northern stairwell. Lily and I are going to climb in a window on the second floor, since I doubt they're going to expect that. We all get to the third floor, then go after our targets. Rani and Liam, you guys work well together when you're not fighting, so you take Riker. Alan and Melody, you guys get Rune. Lily, Angela, Barry and I will take out Dr. Wrath and anyone who tries to get in our way."

"Why do you get to take out the biggest villain?" Alan protested.

"You mean why don't  _you_  get to fight him?" I corrected. "Because you're not so bad when it comes to fighting the shapeshifters; you've proven that. It's not like I'll be fighting him alone, anyway."

"What about Gully?" Rani questioned. I shrugged.

"Look, if we go try and find him before we've taken out Dr. Wrath, we could alert him and his minions to our presence in the building. Not to mention, if he's hurt or…" I stopped myself from adding  _has been tortured_  when I saw her face, "if he's hurt, we can't stop to protect him without putting our lives at risk."

"So, what? You're going back on our deal?" Rani challenged. I shook my head.

"No, of course not." Lily answered for me. "All Alivia's saying is that we can't go looking for him until afterwards. But we will go looking for him."

"Yes. Our deal still stands – we take out Dr. Wrath, find you brother, and then you two go on your merry way." I assured her. She nodded stiffly. "If you guys see Gulliver, just try and keep him out of everything. God knows what's been happening to him, and he may not want to fight anyway. Fair enough?"

Everyone agreed, though I could see the reluctance in a couple of sets of eyes. I sighed, wishing that feeling in the pit of my stomach would just go away.

** Liam's POV **

"This isn't working." Angela muttered under her breath as I shoved myself against the broken door once more. To my growing frustration, it wouldn't budge. Damn, Liv wasn't kidding when she said it was busted. Something in the door frame must have cracked, forcing it closed. "Dude, it's not going to work."

"Well, I don't see you doing anything." I snapped back. Angela looked over her shoulder, making sure no one was coming.

"Move." Rani spoke up suddenly. I looked at her, and she smirked. "Move."

"Fine. Let's see what you've got." I stepped out of the way.

"Stultus conteram ianuam." She declared, raising her hand. She spread her fingers in emphasis on the last word, and the door immediately disintegrated, breaking into flecks of woods until a pile sat where the door had been. Angela looked at Rani, surprised. "I spent the night memorizing spells."

"After you." I grinned, happy to know that giving her that book had worked out in our favor. Rani smirked, and went to step inside, but Angela pushed her aside, whipping out her plasma crossbow and shooting an arrow past me. I spun around, confused, just in time to see it bury itself in the shoulder of one of Dr. Wrath's minions. Another quick shot went through his leg, incapacitating the man. Pulling out a pair of power dampening handcuffs (a gift for the New League of Heroes from Davenport Industries), I restrained the man.

"Seriously, you're wasting your time on that?" Rani questioned, annoyed.

"What do you expect us to do, kill him?" Angela challenged.

"Well, it would be quicker." The darkness manipulator mumbled. Angela gave her a disapproving look. "He's the enemy, why do you care?"

"Because it's not right." She insisted, pushing past her and walking down the hall. Rani rolled her eyes, then followed after her. I raced after the two girls after making sure the minion was secure. Surprisingly, we managed to make it to the stairwell without a problem. Even when we found guards on the second floor, close to the stairwell, we were able to handle them pretty easily. After all, three against two put the odds in our favor.

"Ha!" I laughed, blasting a guard through a nearby door using my solid light ability. Suddenly, an alarm began blaring throughout the entire facility, and I realized my mistake. "Oops."

"What happened to avoiding being caught?" Angela shot back.

"We should go before more guards-" Rani stopped short, when the sound of shouting came from somewhere on the floor. But it wasn't guards or minions or even the big shots like Riker, Rune or Dr. Wrath.

"Help! Hey, help!" A slightly familiar voice shout. Rani's face paled upon hearing it.

"Gully." She realized. She started down the hallway, towards the sound of shouting, but Angela caught her arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" She questioned. "You heard Geminus; we focus on the main enemies first."

"But he needs our help." Rani insisted. Angela took a deep breath.

"Listen." She advised calmly. Rani frowned, but paused, listening as Gulliver continued to shout. "You hear that? His voice is loud, but not strained. If he was seriously hurt, you'd either hear it in his voice, or he wouldn't be able to shout that loudly. So, chances are, he's not hurt. He's probably locked up somewhere. We can come back for him."

"Rani!" This time, when he shouted, he sounded just a bit more desperate. "Help!"

Rani ripped her arm away from Angela, her eyes wide. "I'm sorry." She looked between us, almost as if she was begging us to understand. "He's my brother."

"Rani!" I tried to stop her, but she tore off down the hallway, in search of her brother.

"Don't! Let her go." Angela told me. "We can't afford to go after her."

I sighed, not liking this. Either, she was going to get herself into some serious trouble with the guards, or she'd get her brother and disappear from our lives altogether. And though we weren't all that close, I kinda enjoyed partnering up with her to fight.

"Damn it. Fine." I agreed. We both turned around to head for the stairs, only to see two sets of minions running up the stairs towards us. "Here we go."


	9. When Things Fall Apart

** Lily's POV **

"Well, that was surprisingly easy." I commented, swinging my leg over the windowsill, climbing in after Alivia. The red-head glanced back at me, smirking at me.

"Well, I wasn't kidding about them not guarding the windows." She commented. "Let's go."

"Wait." I stopped her. She frowned at me, then I gestured at a security camera, aimed in the direction she'd been planning on going. It hadn't seen her yet, but another step or two and we would have been busted. Raising my hand, I used my telekinesis to crush it. "Okay, we're good."

"Good catch." She complimented. I smiled gratefully, and followed her into the hallway. "Alright, I saw we head to the south stairwell and make our way up to the third floor from there."

"Good idea." I agreed. We walked carefully along the hallway, taking a detour at the last minute to avoid walking into a few guards. "So, what's next?"

She gave me a confused look. "Uh, we kick Dr. Wrath's ass?"

"Obviously, I meant, after this," I gestured vaguely. "What's next?"

"We continue to reform the League, beat bad guys." She answered dismissively. "That's our job, remember?"

"Yeah, but we don't have to be working all the time." I mentioned. Her confusion cleared.

"You want to celebrate, have a party?" She guessed. She sighed and gave me an exasperated smile. "I see Spotlight's been rubbing off you."

"No, that's…well, I'm not saying no to a party." I admitted. "But, I mean, the old members of the League had social lives…right? They had real jobs, and lives, and they did stuff they enjoyed, like hobbies or dating."

"Yeah, I suppose we'll all have time to do what we want." She agreed, shrugging. "It's your life – do what you want."

I sighed. "I mean, what do you think about it?" I insisted. She glanced at me, confused.

"You don't need my permission to date or get a job." She assured me, shaking her head before glancing around a corner. I looked at her, mildly irritated. Seriously? Is that what she thought I was asking? And I thought guys were dense.

I took a deep breath. "Alright, Alivia, what I'm trying to say is, after this is all done, would you-"

But before I could even finish, a blaring alarm sounded off around us. "Did I not say that they're one job was not to get caught?" Alivia demanded. She looked at me. "C'mon. The mission's blown – now that we've lost the element of surprise, we might be screwed."

She raced back towards the direction we'd just come. Cursing, I shook my head. "Perfect timing, guys. Seriously." I muttered before following after her.

** Barry's POV **

Things were going well, up until the alarms went off. We'd almost made it to the third floor, had even gotten into the stairwell just fine. Then, before we could make it up the stairs, a loud, blaring alarm sounded off across the entire facility. Alan, Melody and I all froze on the stairs, looking at each other. One of the others must have set off the alarm.

Before we could even think about changing our plan, Rune appeared at the top of the stairs. "Well, look what we have here." He hummed thoughtfully, smirking down at us.

The door below us burst open and a pair of dark aired minions appeared. "I got them, you guys take Rune." Melody told us, not waiting for a reply before pushing past us and icing the stairs so the minions couldn't climb up them. She slid down the stairs, fists out, ready for a fight.

I turned to try and take out Rune, but Alan had already shapeshifted, this time into a massive gorilla, charging up the stairs two at a time. Which would have been fine usually, but he obstructed my view of the villain, preventing me from using my weapon. Not that it mattered; in such a small stairwell, there wasn't much room to shoot. Sighing in annoyance, I darted up the remaining stairs, trying to get a better angle.

"Alan!" I called, ducking as his large, hairy fist swung over my head. He ignored me, trying in vain to grab one of Rune's arm. Rune shifted, turning into his swarm form. Alan grunted in annoyance, still trying to grab a hold of the swarm. Rune flew around his head, out of harm's way, as Alan waved his arms through the air. "Give it up, man! You can't grab him!"

I raised my bow and shot one of my specialized arrows into the air. Seconds before hitting the ceiling, it exploded, releasing an icy mist concoction that Rani had whipped up for me the night before. The mist covered everything, including the swarm. As Rani had assured me, the frost in the mist slowed the swarm down, forcing Rune to shift back to his human form before his swarm got too cold for him to move. He dropped onto the stairs, landing on his feet with ease.

"You think that's going to stop me?" He challenged, raising his hand and shooting a blast of energy at Alan and I. I threw myself against the wall, but Alan wasn't so lucky. Too large to move fast enough, the blast hit him in the thigh, and knocked him over the stair railing.

"Shit, Alan!" I shouted in shock, running to the stair railing. I watched as he, still in his gorilla form, crashed down to the ground. On his way down, he hit Melody, who'd been about to ice the minion she was fighting.

I didn't get the chance to see if he was alright before Rune attacked me, trying to push me off the railing after him. I dropped low to make it more difficult for him, then pushed my bow out, trying to knock him off balance.

That didn't work much, but it did give me the chance to back away from the rail so I couldn't be thrown off. I whipped an arrow out of my quiver and went to aim it, but he was on top of me before I could. He used his energy blast to throw me against a nearby wall. I recovered quickly enough, but even more minions came rushing into the stair well.

"We're outnumbered!" Melody shouted. "Abort!"

She didn't have to tell me twice. "See ya, losers!" I grabbed a grappling arrow (a gift from one of Dani's friends at some tech company) and shot it into the ceiling before diving off the stairs. Using the bow, I dropped safely to the bottom floor. Alan, now back in his human form, used his telekinesis to throw the minions out of his way, and we all raced (well, limped in some cases) as fast as we could out of the building.

"Things just went to hell, Geminus!" Melody shouted into the comms.

"Us too." Lily agreed. "Riker's here. We just barely got away."

"So is Rune." Alan added, wheezing a little, still winded from the long fall. "We need a new plan."

"Agreed. We're out numbered." Alivia agreed. "Evacuate the building and meet back at the motel."

"Wait, we can't." Liam protested. "Rani went to find her brother. She turned off her comms."

"We'll have to leave without her." Alivia sighed.

"What?" Melody looked surprised. "You want to leave her behind?"

"She wasn't supposed to go after him in the first place." Alivia sighed. "We can't go back for her."

"Well, I'm not leaving her behind." Liam insisted. After a moment, he added, "she'll literally come back and kill us all for doing that."

"Yeah, sure. That's why." Angela scoffed. "Look, we need to leave."

"Crossbow's right. Like I said, we need to go. Fall back." Alivia ordered.

"Wait, I said we needed a plan, not that we needed to run away." Alan protested. "We can still win, we just need a different strategy."

"We stay, we're dead. If we go now, we stand a chance of winning later." The Irish hero insisted.

"We'll lose the element of surprise." Alan argued. He stopped moving, to my surprise. "I'm staying."

"Alan-" Alivia cut herself off as Alan pulled out his comm. He tossed it to the ground, gave Melody and I a look, then ran off in a different direction. "Damn it."

"Should we go after him?" Melody questioned sharply.

"…No." Alivia answered after a moment. "No, get out while you can, and head to the motel. I'll grab Alan."

"And Rani and Gulliver." Liam added.

"If I see them, sure." Alivia agreed reluctantly. "Now, go!"

Melody and I exchanged looks, unsure if we should follow orders. She was right about us needing to leave, but I didn't like the thought of us leaving anyone behind. "They'll be fine." Melody reasoned, although she didn't sound so sure. I nodded reluctantly, and we headed to the exit, leaving Alivia to find Alan and Rani.


	10. Abort the Mission

** Alivia's POV **

"Damn it, Alan." I muttered, running through the halls, trying to locate the idea before he got us both killed. I wasn't sure why I was surprised by his behaviour – highly aggressive and impulsive had always been key parts of his personality – but it still annoyed me to no end.

I dropped back a step, hiding in the doorway to one of the empty interrogation rooms as a pair of henchwomen trotted down the hall. Pressed against the hall, I bit my lip as I waited for them to pass by.

This was a bad idea, and I knew it. Going after Alan was reckless and likely to get me caught, but we'd been friends for a long time, despite the many ups and downs to our relationship.

But this, this wandering the halls in hopes that I'd find him soon, it wasn't working.

Taking a deep breath, I focused on the cells that made up…well, me, feeling them begin to split and multiply until two identical copies of myself were staring back at me. We all shared a smirk, then my two duplicates disappeared down the hall I'd just come from, my subconscious sending them to search different floors to speed this up.

We wouldn't stop looking until we found the idiot and dragged him out of here, kicking and screaming if we had to.

** Rani's POV **

"C'mon Gully, where are you?" I muttered to myself, racing through the halls as fast as I dared. I didn't want to get caught, but my brother's screams had ceased mere moments ago, and I hadn't yet decided if the silence scared me more or less than the screaming.

I had to find him, we had to get out of here. I couldn't let him down, not again. The first time we'd tried to escape, that had been my idea, and that had ended only in tragedy. My brother captured, Chaz…Chaz was gone. I still wasn't sure where I'd gone wrong, but I knew that whatever it was, it had been my fault. Without Chaz, Gully was all the family I had left, and say what you will about me, but I was loyal to my family.

Sighing, I stopped in the middle of a hallway. Enough. "Gully ubi est." I murmured, raising my hands and casting my magic into the air. A moment later, I felt it pulse back to me, like a ping on a sonar. Two halls to the left, first door on the right. Okay, sure. Easy as pie.

I found out very quickly that it would not be that easy.

I turned the corner of the last hallway maybe a little less cautiously than I should have, and found myself face to face with four guys. The first two I recognized – they were Rodney and Patrick, some of my fellow students when I went to Villain University – while the other two remained a mystery to me. The moment I stepped into the hall, they stopped mid-conversation to stare at me.

"Hello boys." I gave them a seductive smile. My charm had always been one of my assets; maybe it would work on them.

No dice; Patrick charged at me first, his super speed carrying him forward far faster than I could have dodged. Behind him, Rodney followed, his fists engulfed in black, sinister flames. Patrick barrelled right into me, his combined momentum and body weight knocking me to the ground. The moment I hit the floor, however, I rolled to the left, remembering all the lectures Dr. Wrath had given us on tag-teaming against your enemy. Sure enough, I narrowly avoided being scorched by Rodney's dark pyrokinesis attack.

I spun around, twisting my legs under me to give me more leverage as I pushed myself to my feet. I didn't give them another chance to attack – another one of Dr. Wrath's lectures that came to mind was the one about speed being better than strength in some cases – and immediately called the shadows in the hall to my side. Before either one of them could even blink, I sent the shadows crashing into them, slamming them into the ground so hard that it knocked them out in a single, massive blow.

I turned my attention to the larger of the remaining henchmen, and raised a hand, commanding his own shadow. His shadow wrapped himself around its owner's neck, cutting off his oxygen supply. The henchmen gasped and choked, his large hands swiping at his neck in hopes of dislodging the shadow, but it was to no avail. I tightened the shadow and watched the henchmen slowly lose consciousness. The moment I was sure he was out, I released him, letting him drop to the floor.

I looked up to see the last of the four henchmen standing near the back, looking terrified. He was only fifteen, the same age I'd been when Gully and I had come to Villain University. Damn it, he was just a kid. "Look, I was Dr. Wrath's favorite student for a reason. Now get out of here," I warned him, "before I make you."

He took my warning to heart, scampering out of there as fast as he could. I sighed, glancing down at the three unconscious henchmen. Some time ago, I wouldn't have even hesitated to kill them, but now…now I was letting them live. Those stupid heroes must have rubbed off on me, despite my best efforts.

I took a deep breath, then pushed open the door to the room where my brother was supposed to be being held. I had expected a fight going in there, but what I found instead was even more surprising.

** Alan's POV **

I smirked to myself as I used my telekinesis to throw one of the henchmen through a nearby door, the fight ending as quickly as it had started. I was making slow progress on my way to find Dr. Wrath, but it was progress nonetheless.

"Alan!" I sun around, prepared for another attack, my fist already flying towards the enemy. She caught my wrist with ease, stopping the blow just as I realized who my 'attacker' was.

"Easy there, Turbo." Alivia teased gently, releasing my hand. "It's just me."

"Sorry." I apologized breathlessly. I'd been fighting my way through the second floor, but it wasn't getting any easier as I went. I looked past Alivia, but was surprised to see that she wasn't alone. "Where are the others?"

"I told them to go back to our base of operations." She told me. "Alan, we need to get out of here."

"What? No!" I protested. "Call them back, we can still win this!"

"No, we can't." She insisted sternly. "We're outnumbered and outgunned." I opened my mouth to object, but she shook her head, cutting me off. "I already had to recall one of my duplicates because things were getting too heavy for her, and the other one is currently fighting off five guys on her own. If we don't leave now, we aren't going to walk away from this."

"If the team had stayed-" I began, only for her to stop me again.

"Then they'd be fighting for their lives. Alan, it's better to live to fight another day than die a pointless death, trying to accomplish the impossible." She told me. I sighed, recognizing the truth in her words. "Please, let's just go."

"Alright." I agreed reluctantly. She grinned, then turned to leave, only to stop short.

"Crap." She muttered. Turning, I saw exactly what had gotten her so upset; twelve henchmen and henchwomen were lining up to take us on, all looking like they were excited for the fight.

Huh, maybe Alivia's idea to leave wasn't such a bad one after all.

"C'mon." I called to her before shapeshifting into my favorite animal form – a tall, muscular lion. I leapt into the crowd of hench-people, pinning two to the ground. I had to remember not to hurt them too badly – heroes didn't kill, after all – but just enough that it would keep them down. It wasn't easy; many of them had superpowers and though some of them couldn't compete with me in this form, many of them still tried. Two in particular, a cryokinetic guy and an electrokinetic girl, were giving me a harder time than the others, tag-teaming me to keep me down and away from the others.

As for Alivia, she was on fire, not even bothering to create another duplicate. She'd always excelled at hand to hand combat, had even offered to train me on the side, but the way she was going from one opponent to the other was just ridiculously amazing. For a moment, things looked like they were going our way.

Which is why the universe chose that moment to strike us down.

I growled at one of the other henchmen, about to attack him, when I heard Alivia gasp loudly, the Irish superhero jerking back violently, away from her opponent. Her skin, already a fairly pale shade, went as white as a sheet as her eyes popped, her expression a mask of horror and pain.

For a moment, I was confused as to what had happened – she looked unharmed, as far as I could tell – but then I remembered something that had happened a few months back. It had been back when we were on our way to grab Spotlight and the Scarlet Ace in Canada when we'd gotten in a bad fight with Slaughter Master and a couple of other villains. It had been a bloody fight, one that had led to the death of one of Alivia's duplicates. She'd reacted the same way, going into a similar state of shock for several hours before Barry was able to shake her out of it. Luckily, Crossbow had been at her side during the fight, able to cover her long enough for us to take out the villains.

Unfortunately, I wasn't close enough to reach her. One of the henchwomen, a petite girl with ridiculous amount of super strength, slammed her elbow into Alivia's ribs, the bone-crushing blow knocking the red-head back several steps as she struggled to recover from what must have been the death of the duplicate she'd mentioned earlier. The henchwomen was relentless though and before I could reach either of them, she grabbed Alivia by the arm, swinging her around and slamming her into the nearest wall. Out team's leader hit the wall with a painful sounding crash, then crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

I started towards her, only to have twelve, superpowered hench-people turn on me. Twelve against two had already been fairly stacked odds, but all of them against me…there was no way I could beat them alone. So, I did the only thing I could think of.

I ran.


	11. Gulliver

** Rani's POV **

"Gully?" I called softly. Something was wrong here – the two of us, alone, in what looked like a control room. Where were the guards? Why would they leave a prisoner in such an important-looking room?

My brother stood in front of a series of surveillance screens, each of them showing a different hallway of the facility. "Gully, what's going on?"

My brother turned to look at me and smiled. "Rani, good. You're here."/

"Uh, yeah." I nodded, confused. "Now c'mon. We need to go."

"No, I think I'm good." He replied, not taking his eyes off of the screens.

"You think you're…what?" I stared at him, completely bewildered. "Look, Gully, I know our last escape plan didn't go so well, but this time, we'll get out. It'll work out. I've got frien-a team who'll back us up."

"A team? You mean the team that just bailed on you?" He questioned. He gestured at the screens. "They're gone. I watched them go."

While I had to admit that that hurt a bit, I understood why they did. "We have to get out of here."

"No, we don't." Gully turned to me. There was a gleam in his eye that I hadn't noticed before. "Rani, Dr. Wrath will forgive you for running away. All you have to do is ask him to."

"Forgive…what are you talking about? We need to leave." I insisted.

"No, we don't. Stay, work for Dr. Wrath again. I've already spoken to him on your behalf. If you ask him for forgiveness, he will grant it." He assured me.

"You want me to beg for forgiveness?" I stared at him in shock. "He killed Chaz."

"That was unfortunate." He admitted.

"Unfortunate?" I repeated. "Gully, do you really think that he'll keep us around? We're disposable to him."

"No, I don't think we are." He shook his head. Suddenly, the door opened behind me and a pair of henchmen walked in, armed with some high-end, teched out weapons.

"I can't believe you're working with him after he killed your best friend." I shook my head in disbelief, too shocked to move even as one of the henchmen grabbed my arm. Gully turned away from me to look back at the screens.

"He wasn't my friend. He wouldn't have betrayed us if he was." He said simply as the henchmen began to pull me backwards.

** Angela's POV **

"You just left her there?" Lily demanded, staring at Alan with wide, angry eyes. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"That I couldn't beat them on my own!" Alan snapped back, just as angry. I sighed; this was an impossible situation.

"She wouldn't have even gone in there if you hadn't tried to play hero!" Lily argued, clearly upset.

"I didn't ask her to!" Alan retorted.

"Hey, hey! Let's just chill out for a moment, alright?" Melody stepped between the two of them. "What's done is done. All we can do is try and deal with it now, okay?"

"She's right." Alan agreed. "Why do you think I came straight back here? So we could figure out a rescue plan."

"Fine." Lily was clearly still upset with Alan, but she dropped the subject. "We need a better plan than before, otherwise no one's getting out of there."

"Well, I think that splitting up was a mistake." I commented. The others looked at me. "Look, if I've learned anything since Mighty Med was destroyed, it's that we work better together than going at it solo."

"So you think we should go in together, no splitting up?" Barry confirmed. I nodded. "I'm good with that."

"Yeah, same here, but one alteration. We grab Rani too." Liam added. Lily gave him a look, and opened her mouth to commented, but he cut her off. "We wouldn't have gotten this far without her, and with her magic, she's one hell of an asset."

"He's got a point." Melody agreed. "Look, we'll try to save her, but she might already be gone. That was her plan, right? To leave with her brother?"

"Alivia is our main priority." I declared. "If we can get Rani too, that'd be great, but Liv's our leader. She'd come back for us, we need to go back for her."

** Alivia's POV **

"Oh God." I groaned, rolling onto my knees and clutching my head. It was aching worse than that time Jaime and I broke into my father's liquor cabinet, and my whole body was shivering. Flashes of memories floated through my head, re-living the death of my duplicate over and over again.

"Hey." I startled backwards when a pair of hands touched my shoulder, looking up to see Rani standing above me. She stepped back, hands up. "Just me."

"Sorry." I mumbled, shoving myself to my feet. The room spun slightly and I placed my hand on the wall to steady myself. "Damn."

"You alright?" She asked, concerned. I shook my head, trying to clear it. I hated losing a duplicate – it felt like I was dying myself, only I survived that terrifying feeling. I glanced around the room, trying to get my bearings. There wasn't much to look at – just a plain, grey-walled room, about 8 feet by 8 feet, without even so much as a window. A single door, a heavy steel one that would be impossible for us to break, stood on the western wall.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied, knowing that I only needed a few hours to recover. "What happened? The last thing I remember was fighting with Alan."

"Well, I'm guessing you lost that fight, but I haven't seen Alan." Rani replied.

"He must have escaped." I decided. I nodded. "Good. What about you?" I glanced at her. She didn't look injured. "I thought you went after your brother."

"Turns out, he doesn't want to leave." Rani sighed, shaking her head with a frown on her face. "He's…he's working with Dr. Wrath. I don't understand how he could…after Chaz…"

"Some people can change, but some can't. I'm sorry your brother wasn't one of those people, Rani." I apologized. I was an only child, but I'd seen the kind of bond Oliver and Dani had always had. I could only imagine how hard this was for the former villain. "We have to get out of here."

"How?" Rani questioned. "We're in the basement, behind a locked door, with at least six guards out there. And you may say you're fine, but you don't look like you're up to taking them down."

"Well, we can't just stay here." I pointed out. "So we need to figure something out."

"I-" Before Rani could respond, the door to our little cell swung open and Riker stepped in, a cocky smirk on his face.

"Dr. Wrath would like a word." He commented smugly.


	12. Rescue

** Rani's POV **

I coughed harshly, pushing myself off the floor. My chest ached, some of my ribs feeling particularly vulnerable as a I tried to recover from the beating Dr. Wrath's henchmen had delivered. They were just a pair of punks – a boy and girl, both in their mid-teens, obviously going overboard with their blows in attempts to impress Dr. Wrath. I bowed my head, trying to regain my breath, and trying to figure out how I could have ever been like them.

My breathing faltered as a shadow fell across me, a black robe just visible between the strands of hair that had fallen in front of my face. "Are you ready to comply, child?" My former professor questioned, his tone bored.

I looked up at him, exhausted and aching. He hadn't changed at all since the last time I saw him – still the same, pale, bald man with the same cold look in his beady eyes – but now, instead of seeing a mentor, I saw a monster. "Go to hell." I managed, pushing myself onto my knees. I started to get up, but he stopped me, a deep frown on his face.

"You had so much potential, child. You could be so great. It's why I accepted your brother's assurance that you would learn your place." He told me. "Do you mean to tell me he lied to me?"

"He lies to everyone. Don't take it personally." I muttered, brushing his hand away and stumbling to my feet. He shook his head, bemused.

"I can make you great, my girl. Powerful. Everything you ever wanted." He promised me. "All you have to do is do as you're told."

I took a deep, steadying breath before addressing him. "I won't be your student. Never again. Not after what you did to Chaz."

Dr. Wrath sighed in annoyance, then stepped back and nodded at his henchmen. The boy, towering over me despite his younger age, grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back, while the girl lunged forward, upper-cutting her fist to hit me in the jaw before punching me directly in the throat. The sudden blow to my windpipe made me drop, which, unfortunately, was exactly what they wanted. The boy released my arm with a sharp twist, the pain clouding my mind for a brief moment before a heavy kick to my abdomen refocused me. I curled inwards in an attempt to protect myself, but it was over quickly, the two only managing to get a few more kicks in before Dr. Wrath called them off.

He watched me for a moment as I tried to regain my composure. "Chaz made you weak. I could give you everything you've ever wanted, girl, and you choose to join those pathetic heroes? If you continue to defy me, I will have no choice but to destroy you."

"Chaz…he didn't make me…weak. He helped me see a life free from you." I growled, looking up at Dr. Wrath. For the first time in my life, I was no longer afraid of him. It didn't matter what he did or how this turned out, I was done being afraid of him. "Hear my words, Wrath; I would rather die a hero than become the monster you want me to be."

He chuckled, seeming amused by my response, almost as if he expected it. "That could be arranged."

** Alivia's POV **

I paced my cell impatiently, glancing at the door. It had been too long since Riker had taken Rani – truth be told, it had only been an hour, but a lot could happen in an hour – and since then, no one else had even bothered with me. I had no idea what was going on with Rani, or my team, or anything. If I stopped moving, I could hear the guards outside talking in low voices, but they were too muffled by the door for me to understand them.

I needed a plan, I needed to figure out a way out of here. Dr. Wrath had always been known for being cruel, and after finding out what he had done to Chaz, one of his favorite students, I knew I had to get out of here before I got dragged out to 'talk' like Rani. God knows what he was doing to her.

Suddenly, a few sounds from outside the door caught my attention. It didn't sound like the guards speaking – in fact, that sound had stopped altogether…Riker, that must be it. Whatever Dr. Wrath had done with Rani, he was finished and now Riker had come for me. I made a quick decision, sliding up besides the door. The moment it opened, I would make attack Riker and then make a break for it. Even if I couldn't get back to my team, it was still worth the try.

Sure enough, the door slowly opened up a second later. I lunged into the hall, driving my elbow upwards, slamming it into the guy's nose as hard as I could. I spun around, prepared to kick his legs out from under him, but a hand grabbed my arm, stopping me mid-motion.

"Geminus!" Startled, I looked up at the sound of my name, shocked to see Barry staring back at me. I blinked in confusion, then looked back at my opponent. Liam was standing a few feet away from, one hand clutching his face, blood dripping out from between his fingers. "Dude!"

"Spotlight, Arciere…uh," I certainly hadn't been expecting them. "Uh, oops?"

"Oops?" Liam echoed, annoyed. "I think you just broke my nose."

"Nice elbow strike though." Barry added, slightly amused. He looked me over, obviously checking for injuries. "Are you alright? Alan said you got hurt."

"Lost a duplicate. I'm better now. Ready to fight." I assured him. I looked around, but none of the others were present. "The others?"

"This way. We each chose a room to check." Liam replied, sending me an annoyed look as he dropped his hand. He stepped over the pile of unconscious bodies, presumably the henchmen who had been guarding my cell, and led me down the hall. "Hey guys, look who attacked me!"

The moment I took a step into the empty room, Lily lunged at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. I hugged her back, pleasantly surprised, until she pulled back a bit so that, while her arms were still around my neck, she could look at me. We stayed like that for a brief moment before she cleared her throat. "I-I'm glad you're okay."

"That makes two of us." I agreed, stepping back a little. I looked around at the others, my gaze landing on Alan. He didn't meet my gaze, looking almost ashamed. When I realized why, I gave him a reassuring smile. "Good call, getting the others." I complimented him.

He looked up, surprised, then nodded. "Thanks." He replied.

"So, do we have a plan?" I asked, looking at the others.

"It was pretty much save your and Rani's asses." Angela admitted. Shit, Rani.

"Dr. Wrath has her." I remembered. "He had Riker take her to him an hour ago; I haven't seen her since."

"What about Gulliver? Did she find her brother?" Barry questioned. I nodded reluctantly.

"He's a traitor. Apparently, he's still working with Dr. Wrath." I sighed, shaking my head. "You should have seen her face – she was devastated."

"We have to get to her." Liam declared. I nodded in agreement.

"I say we fight. We're outnumbered, sure, but this is the closest we'll ever get to him." I told the others.

"Alivia's right. This is our best chance." Lily agreed.

"Win or lose, this will be our last fight against him and his minions?" Melody questioned. I nodded and she smiled thinly. "I'm okay with that."

"Let's go kick some ass." Alan declared. I smiled in agreement.

"Lead the way." I encouraged. We all headed towards the stairs, heading up to the third floor. We were met with some resistance, sure, but for the first time in my memory, we were working as a real team, drawing strength from each other's abilities. Between Barry and Angela's combo shots, Lily and Alan's double-telekinetic pull combinations, and my, Liam, and Melody's combined strength, we were practically unstoppable to the under-powered and barely trained henchmen.

It didn't take us long to take it to the floor Dr. Wrath's main operations took place on, but it was there that we found the worst of the resistance. Most of the useless henchmen and goons were gone, but waiting for us at the far end of the hallway stood Riker, Rune, and Gulliver. They didn't look surprised to see us – one of the henchmen must have warned them before we took them out. In fact, they almost looked pleased; perhaps they too were eager for a fight.

Behind them was a heavy set door, positioned as if they were guarding it. Perhaps that was where Dr. Wrath was. "You're dead meat,  _heroes_." Rune spat out the last word in disgust as he and his friends came towards us. We started towards them, but froze when a loud, agonized scream filled the air.

"Rani." Liam realized, recognizing the voice. He glared at Gulliver. "That's your sister, sicko!"

"And soon, once Dr. Wrath has knocked some sense into her, she'll be back on the right side." Gulliver smirked.

"Go to her, before Dr. Wrath kills her." I hissed to Liam. He didn't have to be told twice, already moving. Raising his hand, he sent a blinding flash of light across the room. The rest of us charged towards the villains, knowing that the light would disorient them for a brief moment. I slammed into one of the villains – it was hard to tell with the way the light still shone in our eyes, but I thought it might be Riker – just as I heard a door slam shut.

Good. Liam would get to Rani and help her with Dr. Wrath. All we had to do was defeat these guys in time to help them take out the villainous professor. Easy, right?


	13. Final Showdown

** Lily's POV **

We split up almost right away, each of us picking our villain to take down. Alan and Melody, a surprisingly good team took on Rune, while our two favorite archers chose Gulliver, leaving Alivia and I with Riker all to ourselves. Despite our numbers, the three of them were still formidable opponents, meaning that Liam and Rani would have to hold on until we could help them with Dr. Wrath.

"I got right, you go left." Alivia spared me a quick glanced before lunging at Riker, not waiting for an answer. She hadn't created a duplicate, I noticed (likely a little wary to after losing one only a couple of hours ago), but that didn't seem to faze her in the slightest. No, she went straight in for the attack, only to drop back at the last second when Riker went to blast her. I understood her plan immediately; she wanted to use herself as bait while I attacked his weaker side. It was a good plan in theory, but we could only hope it would work.

I did as I was asked, coming up on his left side as Alivia darted forward again, teasingly stepping just within Riker's reach, then backing out just as quickly. He lunged at her and I took my shot, raising my hand and telekinetically throwing him to the side. He flew into the air, but rather than crashing back down to the ground, he caught himself, shapeshifting into his signature swarm form midair. He hovered above us for a brief moment, then slammed down towards us, using his swarm's size to hit both of us at once. It wasn't a heavy blow – he only managed to get a partial hit on both of us – but it was enough to knock Alivia into the nearest wall and to push me down to the ground.

I reacted instantly, shoving the swarm away with my powers even as I got to my feet. "How can we fight something we can't even touch?" I hissed as Alivia stepped away from the wall. She shook her head, having no answer for me, then glanced over her shoulder at the others. I only hoped that they were having an easier time than us.

** Liam's POV **

Heart beating fast, I raced into the room Riker, Rune, and Gulliver had been protecting. The room was pretty large, designed like the kind of office you'd expect a CEO to have or something, but with darker, grimmer colors.

Rani was kneeling on the ground, bent over with two henchmen standing over her. Nearby, a tall, bald-headed man in a cloak watched them, his pale lips curled upwards in a cruel smirk. "Hey, Wrath!" I shouted, knowing who he was on sight. Everyone in the room looked at me, even Rani. "Wow, Nyx must be real powerful if it takes all three of you to beat her. Why don't you try me on for size?"

Was I expecting that to make things better in any shape or form? Not really, but it did get the henchmen's attention off of Rani for a second, and that was all she needed. Raising her right hand, a shadow burst from the wall and engulfed the boy next to her. I reacted instantly, flashing the room with a bright light before darting towards Dr. Wrath himself.

" _Volant!"_  He shouted, his voice breaking through the white light, and suddenly, I found myself flying through the air. I skidded across the ground, thankfully slowing down before rolling into the nearby wall.

"Ah!" Rani's back slammed into the wall next to me, her teeth gritted painfully. She glanced at me, sucking in a shaky breath. "What-what are you doing here?"

"Uh, I'm here to rescue you?" I laughed breathlessly, getting to my feet. She rolled her eyes.

"You're a terrible stormtrooper." She grumbled, wincing as she held her left arm to her ribs. Just as I was about to reply, she ducked, just as a large, ball of smoke came shooting at us. At least I thought it was smoke, until it hit me in the chest with the same force as was in my own hard light beams.

I dropped to me knees, trying to give myself a chance to recover. "I didn't know he could do that." I admitted.

"I'm done being afraid of you." Rani declared, standing up to Dr. Wrath. She raised her hand, her mouth set in a firm scowl.  _"Conteret eum!"_

A blast of black energy shot from her hand, much like her regular shadow blasts, though this one contained slivers of amber spiraling within it. Seeing this, the henchman and henchwoman exchanged looks and bolted, clearly not liking where this was going.

" _Occidere!"_  Dr. Wrath shouted in response, his blast, a smoky colored beam of solid energy bursting from his extended palm. The blast collided with Rani's, sparks flying from where they fought to overtake one another.

** Lily's POV **

"This isn't working!" I shouted, even as I used my telekinesis to try and keep the swarm under control. Controlling inanimate objects was easy enough, but when you were using telekinesis against something with a mind of their own, they tended to put up a fight, and Riker was no exception. He frequently alternated between the swarm and his physical form, taking turns charging us and blasting us. It was almost impossible to combat him, each of his forms were weak to a different kind of attack, and he was shifting too quickly for us to settle on one. "We need a new plan!"

"I'm open to suggestions!" Alivia retorted. I glanced over my shoulder, and saw that the others were having similar problems; Gulliver was using his mirage trick to confuse the two archers, while Rune was using a similar tactic to his brother to fend off Alan and Melody.

"Yeah, actually. Duck!" I ordered, dropping low as Riker's swarm dropped at us. Not waiting to explain my plan, I rolled backwards as I dropped, then twisted, my arm raised out towards Melody. Using my telekinesis, I plucked her up and into the air, sending her over to Barry and Angela.

"Hey!" She protested, confused as she dropped back down to the ground, landing on the balls of her feet. "What gives?"

"Switch things up!" I ordered, jumping to my feet and running to Alan's side. "Arciere, you're with Geminus!"

"Copy that!" He agreed without hesitation, rushing to the Irish girl's side.

"Really? Is that your big plan?" Gulliver sneered, shaking his head at me.

"We like to keep you boys on your toes." I replied mockingly. "Besides, it's better than betraying one of our own."

"My sister needs to learn her place!" He snapped, aiming his 3D gun at me. He pressed the trigger, but I deflected the blow, using my powers to redirect the blast into the ceiling. I spun around and used the momentum to help boost my telekinetic push, shoving the 3D gun upwards. My goal had been to get rid of the weapon altogether, but he held onto it tightly.

Alan roared, lunging forward in his lion form at Gulliver, only to go right through him. Several more Gullivers appeared around us, each armed, but only one of them the correct one. Damn it; I hated his mirage power!

Alan growled in frustration, leaping at another Gulliver. He pawed at the ground as he landed, the mirage disappearing. "Good luck!" Gulliver's annoying laugh echoed around us.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, my hand outstretched in front of me. I'd been tracking that dirt bag for weeks now; I could pick him out of a crowd. Trusting my senses, I reached out with my mind, searching for the all too familiar aura…it was just out of…yes!

"Ha!" I shouted successfully, shoving my palm forward, telekinetically grabbing hold of the real Gulliver. I slowly lifted him up, just enough that his feet dangled above the floor. "He's all yours, Alan!"

The young shapeshifter didn't have to be told twice, launching himself at Gulliver without the slightest hesitation. The moment his large paws touched the villain, I released my telekinetic hold on him, letting Alan take him down to the ground. I turned away, seeing the claws slide out of the paw just before Alan swiped at Gulliver. "Don't kill him, alright?"

Turning to the others, I tried to see if I could help any of them, but it looked like they too were wrapping things up. I watched, impressed, as Angela shot an arrow into the heart of Rune's swarm, Melody using her own powers to freeze it mid-flight. The swarm swallowed it up, like it had the arrows Angela and Barry had been shooting earlier, but this time, something new happened; an icy frost began to spread from the center of the swarm, quickly coating it. The frost didn't stop, not until the cold forced Rune to transform back to his human form. He landed on the ground with a thud, shivering. He started to get up, only to have an arrow pointed directly at his throat. "Don't even try it, shapeshifter." Angela spat, cocking the weapon threateningly.

On my other side, Alivia and Barry were finishing off Riker. The shapeshifter was already down, with an arrow sticking out of his calf and a black eye to match. He tried to get up, clearly not ready to give up yet, but Alivia sprung into action. Pushing off the ground, she spun around, kicking Riker in the face, hard. He was sent back to the ground, where he hit his head on the floor, knocking him unconscious. "Nice." I grinned, smiling at her. She smiled back appreciatively, then looked over the scene.

"Good idea, switching things up. They were so used to us fighting in specific teams, they didn't know how to handle us trying something new." She smirked, nodding at me. I smiled, giving her a little curtsey as a joke. "Alright, those guys are down for the count. Now it's time for the big guy."

** Liam's POV **

"C'mon, Rani." I murmured, half to myself, as I watch the two beams of energy fight to take over the other. A part of me wanted to get involved, to blast Dr. Wrath full of light while he was distracted, but God knows where his killer smoke beam would go, or what that would do to Rani's concentration. Chnaces were, if I tried to get involved like that, it would do more bad than good.

The problem was, though, Rani couldn't win this. It would be difficult enough for her on a good day – he was the one who taught her everything she knew, after all – but she was injured and exhausted, making things worse. I was pretty sure her arm was broken too; there was no other explanation for why Rani, a lefty, would be using her right hand to control the blast. As it was, I could see her struggling to keep up, her limbs shaking and sweat beading down her forehead. "Rani, c'mon, kick his ass!"

"Trying!" She snapped back, just before crying out in despair as she lost some ground. She dropped down to one knee, bracing herself as she forced herself to keep going.  _"Perdere!"_  She cried out, and more slivers of amber filled her beam, giving her a little more power, but it was clear it wouldn't be enough.

"I'm disappointed, child. You should know by now who is true master of the dark arts!" Dr. Wrath said, not struggling in the slightest. "I will see to it that my next student knows better."

"Screw it." I muttered as I saw Rani slip again. I raced towards her, dropping to my knees and sliding until I reached her.

"What are you doing?" She breathed, not daring to take her eyes off Wrath for fear of losing her power. "Get out of here, go back to the others."

"Hate to break it to you, Shadow Girl, but you're stuck with me." I promised her, raising my hand. I blasted a beam of hard light alongside her energy blast, figuring that I could at least give her an extra boost.

" _Simul!_ " She hissed, leaning closer to me. I looked at her in confusion, but before I could ask any questions, the two beams of energy, light and dark, twirling around each other. The dark and light beams spun around each other, faster and faster, until suddenly, they combined in a flash of light so bright that even I had to look away. But I could feel it in the way the beam tugged at me, begging for more power – it was dangerous and far stronger than anything Dr. Wrath could produce.

"No!" There was a shout, and then, slowly, the light died away. Blinking hard, I looked around as my vision returned. I'd expected the blast to knock Wrath out, or throw him across the room, but what I wasn't expecting was for him to be gone altogether, a pile of ashes in his place.

"Whoa, dang." I murmured, just as Rani slumped next to me, falling onto my chest. I looked down, alarmed, but paused when she let out a breathless laugh.

"No one's going to resurrect him from that. Not this time." She whispered. Suddenly, the door burst open and the rest of our team rushed in, all of them looking as if they expected a full out war. They stopped, looking around in confusion.

"Wrath?" Melody questioned. I nodded at the ashes before taking Rani's (uninjured) arm and helping her to her feet. "Seriously? We missed it?"

"What can I say? We're badasses." I replied. Rani looked up at me, shaking her head.

"Idiot." She muttered half-heartedly, laughing a little before wincing in pain.

** Alivia's POV **

"Alright, so Liam and Rani just got to Mighty Med 2.0. Depending on how serious Rani's arm and rib injuries are, they could be there a couple of hours." I announced, walking into the common area of our hotel room. "And, according to my contact at UPSEI, Gulliver, Rune, and Riker are behind power-dampening bars."

"Where they belong." Lily added, smiling. I looked around the common area, surprised to see that she was the only one in there.

"Um, I think we're missing a few team members." I observed. She laughed lightly and patted the couch cushion next to her, motioning for me to sit down.

"They went out to celebrate." She explained. I smiled, glad that they were enjoying themselves, though one thing still confused me.

"How come you didn't go?" I inquired, sitting down. She crossed her legs, shrugging.

"I thought I'd keep you company." She replied. I smiled.

"Maybe we should go out. Celebrate too." I commented. She smirked slightly.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about tha-" Lily stopped midsentence as my phone went off.

"Sorry." I apologized, grabbing it and looking at the caller ID. "Huh, Skylar."

"Don't answer it." Lily said quickly, before I could press a button. I looked at her, a little surprised. "Please?"

"Alright." It probably wasn't all that important anyway. I rejected the call, sliding the phone into my pocket. "Why though?"

"Because, I keep trying to have this conversation with you, and every time I do, I keep getting interrupted." She insisted, sounding just the tiniest bit annoyed. I smiled playfully. "Anyway-"

"Interrupted? You mean like this?" I asked, purposefully cutting her off. I didn't wait for her to get annoyed with me, but rather leaned forward and pressed my lips against hers, one hand reaching out to pull her closer. She responded in kind, moving her strawberry pink lips in sync with mine for a long moment before breaking it off. She stared at me for a minute before furrowing her brow.

"Well, that kind of interruption I don't mind, but…" She admitted. I laughed lightly, amused. "Wait, are you sure-"

"Nope." I admitted. "I'm not sure about anything, really, except that I like you and you like me, and we deserve this. And to be honest, that's all I really care about right now."

She blushed, ducking her head. "I couldn't agree more." She smiled back at me, leaning in for another kiss.


	14. Epilogue

** Liam's POV **

"Alright, even I have to admit that this place is cool." I commented, looking around. "Seriously, how did Parker convince her boss to give us this place?"

"Apparently, they stopped using it a while back, and it was better than letting the place go to waste." Melody replied as we walked through the halls of our new base of operations. Davenport Industries, now a name that was growing in popularity in the superhero world, had offered up an abandoned facility for us to use as a base of operations for the New League of Heroes. After a couple of weeks of letting Lily redesign the interior (she insisted and to be honest, she's not that bad of a decorator), it was actually pretty nice. A cool combination of low-light colors with modern furniture – though, considering she didn't have any money, I was starting to get suspicious as to where all that furniture had come from – and it was starting to really feel like home. "So…"

"So…?" I raised an eyebrow at her tone. She gave me a sympathetic look.

"I haven't seen Rani this morning." She commented slowly.

"She went to talk to Alivia about an hour ago." I replied, shrugging.

"What about?" Melody asked, curious. I shrugged again, shaking my head. She sighed. "You think she might be leaving?"

"Well, that was the plan, right? I figured she'd leave right away, especially after all that shit with her brother. I'm pretty sure the only reason she stayed this long was because she was injured, but the cast came off this morning, thanks to her dark mumbo-jumbo, so I guess it makes sense that she'd be taking off." Not that I cared. I didn't, really. Well, maybe a little, or more than a little, but it wasn't like that was going to change anything. "It's fine. It's what she wants."

"Yeah, I guess." Melody agreed softly, giving me a smile just as Angela and a tall, tanned, blonde-haired guy in a red and black uniform came walking down the hall. "Hey, back from Brisbane so soon?"

"Flight landed an hour ago." Angela replied, smirking. I grinned and fist-bumped the guy.

"Surge, my man! Glad to have you aboard!" Back in the day, we'd been quite the team, working as partners whenever he was in the country. "How's your sister?"

"Off-limits, I remind you." He replied, smoothing over the words with his Australian accent. "But it's good to be here. Heard you guys could use a hand with the baddies."

"You have no idea, man." I agreed. He nodded and looked at Melody.

"Ricky Barbara." He introduced. "Surge."

"Winters, Melody, AKA Frostbite." She replied.

"Uh, so we should probably continue with the tour. We've got bedrooms on the second floor; the one between me and Arciere is empty." Angela offered. He nodded.

"Let's check it out then. We'll lob in with you later." Ricky agreed, smirking. He started off with her, waving over his shoulder. "Cheerio!"

We watched him go. "She likes him." Melody observed, watching as they went. "Alivia mentioned that she asked specifically if she could be the one to go get him, since we didn't have enough money to send everyone over to Australia."

"They used to date." I informed her. "On and off, for a couple of years. They were still together when Mighty Med was destroyed, I think."

"So, the feeling's mutual." She smirked as Rani came walking down the hall towards us. She cast me a glanced, sympathetic. "I'm going to go. Barry bailed earlier to go visit some girl in Philidelphia, so Alan and I are going to screw with him and rearrange his room while he's gone."

"You have fun with that." I chuckled as she skipped off. Rani watching, an amused smirk on her lips as she shoved her hands in her pockets. "Hey, so how did things go with Liv?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that." She admitted, jerking her head towards a nearby room. Entering it, the room being the meeting room, we sat down in a couple of the chairs.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" I guessed right off the bat. Might as well rip the band-aid off fast. She looked surprised at my outburst, but not at the assumption itself. "Hey, I get it. This was all for your brother. He's gone now, so I get why you'd want to get away. Especially after everything he put you through with Dr. Wrath."

"I know, he just…Gully was never the most stable person around, but I guess I just thought we were always on the same wave length, you know." She sighed. "I guess I was wrong."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing." I added. She nodded.

"I know, but…Liam, I didn't go talk to Alivia to say goodbye." She gave me a look. "I actually wanted to know how she felt about making my place on the team a permanent one."

I chose to ignore the way my heartbeat sped up at those words. "You want to stick around?"

"Well, I don't really have anywhere else to go." She replied dismissively. "And I admit, I miss having a partner in crime."

"Well, I am the perfect choice." I replied cockily before turning more serious. "It's good that you're staying though. I'm glad."

"Obviously, though, for that partner in crime, I was actually thinking someone else." Her lips switched teasingly. "Alan, perhaps, or maybe Barry."

"You're kidding, right?" I scoffed, offended. "Please, I'm way better than them."

"Maybe. I'll consider it…on one condition." She leaned forward in her chair, still smirking. I chuckled, leaning forward as well.

"Yeah? And what's that?" I challenged. She bit the inside of her cheek, pretending to think about it.

"Take me out for dinner." She told me. "Tonight, somewhere decent."

Well, she was bold, I'd give her that. "You want me to take you out on a date?" I confirmed.

"Well, I was getting tired of waiting for you to ask." She insisted before giving me a look. "So, you wanna be my partner in crime or not?"

I grinned. "I'll pick you up at seven."

** Lily's POV **

"No, I understand. Really, it's alright." Alivia was on the phone when I walked into her room. She glanced up when I did, giving me a smile before continuing with her conversation. " _Oliver._ " She emphasized the name, trying to get him to listen to her. "I'll keep an eye out for her. The moment anyone here sees her or hears from her, I'll let you know, alright?" She paused listening. "Good. Now, go. Tell Skylar I said hi."

She hung up and sighed. "Dani's still MIA?" I'm guessing, remembering what she'd said the night before. She nodded.

"Yeah, she is." She sighed, before shaking her head. "So, did you hear? About Surge and Rani?"

"Well, I saw Angela giving Surge a tour, but Rani? Is she staying?" I inquired. Alivia nodded, sitting down on the bed next to me.

"I think she wants to run it by Liam first, but yeah, she's sticking around." She agreed. "Which is good. We'll need her."

"Will we?" I inquired, leaning back on one hand to look at her. "I mean, we beat Dr. Wrath, right? He's the big bad, and I know he had partners, but Roddiseus is dead and you already said that the Elite Force wants to deal with the Elite Force themselves. So, what's next?"

"They're not the only villains in the world, Lily, and they won't be the last either. Someone's going to come and take their place at the top of the villain hierarchy. It's our job to try and stop that, and if it comes to it, we have to be prepared to stop them."

"So, we rebuild the world of heroes?" I guessed. "Build up our resources, make things back to the way they used to be?"

"Better than they used to be. Don't get me wrong; I loved my father and the League, but they weren't perfect. They made mistakes. We need to be better."

"Well, I think we're off to a good start." I replied, leaning in to kiss her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alivia, Rani, Liam, Lily, Alan, Angela, Barry, and Ricky will return.


End file.
